POLAND'S   CASE    FOR    INDEPENDENCE 


POLAND'S  CASE  FOR 
INDEPENDENCE 


BEING 

A   SERIES   OF    ESSAYS   ILLUSTRATING  THE 
CONTINUANCE   OF    HER   NATIONAL   LIFE 


NEW   YORK 
DODD,    MEAD   AND   COMPANY 


First  published  in  igj6 
{All  rights  reserved) 


The  Polish  Information  Committee  leaves  full  freedom  to 
the  authors  of  the  Studies  published  by  ity  and  thus  its 
members  do  not  necessarily  endorse  the  individual  views 
of  the  authors. 


PREFACE 

The  present  volume  contains  a  series  of  essays 
designed  to  illustrate  the  continuance  of  Polish 
national  life,  and  to  interpret  the  manifestations 
of  that  life  to  foreigners,  and  especially  to  the 
people  of  Great  Britain.  Each  of  the  authors  has 
written  his  respective  study  independently ;  but, 
taken  together,  they  present  a  case  which  can  hardly 
fail  to  attract  the  attention  of  many  readers  in 
many  different  parts  of  this  country.  In  this  con- 
nection the  grateful  thanks  of  the  Polish  Infor- 
mation Committee  are  due  to  the  distinguished 
writers  who  so  cheerfully  and  readily  consented 
to  write  Prefaces  to  commend  the  studies  to  the 
British  public. 

If,  as  the  authors  of  these  successive  essays  show, 
Poland  succeeds  in  circumstances  of  the  utmost  mis- 
fortune and  difficulty  to  manifest  and  develop  to-day 
the  fullness  of  her  national  life— if  Poland  has  never 
ceased  to  have  the  hasting  of  a  struggle  for  the 
control  of  her  own  life,  if  Poland  ranks  next  after 
the  six  Great  European  Powers  in  respect  of  her 
population,   if   Poland  has    a  distinctive  economic 

5 

347829 


G  PREFACE 

development,  if  Poland  still  counts  for  something 
in  the  history  of  science,  literature,  music,  and 
painting— surely  these  are  momentous  facts  which 
all  the  thinking  men  and  women  of  Great  Britain 
should  well  weigh  and  consider. 

From  the  very  outset  of  this  Great  Europiean 
War  it  has  begun  to  be  understood  that,  among  the 
numerous  problems  which  will  have  to  be  settled 
at  its  conclusion,  the  Polish  question  will  be  of 
the   very   utmost  importance. 

A  great  part  of  this  gigantic  struggle  has  been 
waged  on  Polish  land,  and  aims  at  the  possession  of 
Polish  territory.  Polish  towns  have  been  destroyed, 
Polish  villages  burnt,  Polish  industries  ruined,  and 
the  remaining  remnants  of  the  nation's  glorious 
past  have  been  annihilated.  Worst  and  most  de- 
plorable of  all,  her  sons  have  had  to  fight  against 
each  other  in  the  different  armies.  Yet,  when  the 
day  of  peace  comes  and  the  ministers  and  diplo- 
matists of  Europe  are  gathered  round  a  table  to 
discuss  the  grave  and  vital  problems  of  the  future, 
there  will  be  none  to  represent  that  Poland  which 
has  known  famine  and  devastation,  that  Poland 
which  has  become  the  cockpit  of  the  East,  where 
innumerable  armies  have  fought  and  held  up  the 
others. 

Will  Poland  suffer  because  she  has  not  had  the 
control    of   her   own    armies?      Is   force   the    only 


PREFACE  7 

method  by  which  to  compel  attention  in  the  affairs 
of  nations? 

The  writers  of  the  succeeding  papers  do  not 
believe  that  force  is  the  sole  international  remedy. 
They  feel  that  sympathetic  knowledge  of  Polish 
affairs  is  an  indispensable  preliminary  to  a  just 
settlement,  and  it  is  this  sympathetic  knowledge 
which,  with  all  recognition  of  their  faults  and  fail- 
ings, they  endeavour  to  give  within  the  confines 
of  their  studies. 

Poland,  as  will  be  clear  after  a  study  of  this 
book,  never  ceased  struggling  and  fighting  for  her 
independence,  even  after  the  days  of  her  disappear- 
ance as  a  separate  State.  Notwithstanding  constant 
persecutions  at  the  hands  of  her  oppressors,  she  was 
still  able  to  develop  her  economic  resources,  and 
to  keep  pace  with  other  nations,  more  happily 
circumstanced,  in  respect  of  the  development  of 
science,  literature,  and  art. 

Does  not  all  this  go  to  show  that  a  country 
which  has  manifested  such  an  indestructible  vitality 
has  a  right  to  the  independence  which  she  has  so 
strongly  craved? 

THE  POLISH  INFORMATION  COMMITTEE. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


LANDMARKS  OF  POLISH  HISTORY.  By  August 
Zalbski,  with  an  Introduction  by  Dr.  R.  W. 
Sbton  Watson        .  .  .  .  .13 

The  growth  of  the  Polish  State,  p.  20— Poland  at  the 
height  of  her  development,  p.  26 — The  decline  of 
Poland,  p.  30 — The  beginning  of  the  regeneration  and 
the  fall  of  Poland,  p.  36 — The  temporary  recon- 
struction of  an  independent  Polish  State,  p.  41 — The 
struggle  for  liberty,  p.  47. 

POLAND'S  STRUGGLE  FOR  INDEPENDENCE.  By 
Rajmund  Kucharski,  with  a  Foreword  by  LORD 
Wbardale    .  .  .  .  .  .57 

Partitions  of  Poland — Polish  Legions — Napoleon — 
Duchy  of  Warsaw,  p.  63 — Vienna  Congress,  p.  66 — 
Kingdom  of  Poland,  p.  69 — Constitution — Grand 
Duke  Constantin — Nevossiltzeff — Diets — Struggle  for  y 
Constitution — Secret  Societies — Lukasinski,  p.  71 — 
Insurrection  of  1830-31,  p.  73 — Reprisals,  p.  75 — 
Polish  emigration  to  Paris — Adam  Mickiewicz — 
Political  parties — Prince  Czartoryski — J.  Lelewel, 
p.  77 — "  Democratic  Society  " — Massacres  of  1846  in 
Galicia,  p.  81 — Insurrection  of  1848 — Adam  Mickie- 
wicz's  Legion  in  Italy,  p.  82 — Principle  of  Nation- 
alities— Policy  of  Napoleon  III,  p.  85 — Wielopolski — 
Muravieff — Bismarck  and  Buchanan,  p.  92 — A  Letter 
of  the  Archbishop  Felinski,  p.  94 — Reprisals,  p.  95^ 
Prophecy  of  Lammenais,  p.  98. 


LANDMARKS    OF 
POLISH    HISTORY 

BY 

AUGUST   ZALESKI 

With  an  Introduction  by 
R.  W.  SETON-WATSON,   D.Litt. 


INTRODUCTION 

The  Great  War  has  produced  a  welcome  reaction 
against  that  indifference  towards  problems  of 
foreign  affairs  which  was  so  marked  and  so 
regrettable  a  feature  of  the  past  fifteen  years. 
British  public  opinion  was  absorbed  in  the  internal 
affairs  of  these  islands,  and  often  tended  to  neglect 
even  the  greatest  of  our  Imperial  problems. 
European  politics  were  allowed  to  remain  a 
sealed  book  ;  and  if  this  was  true  even  of  such 
near  neighbours  as  France  and  Gennany,  it  applies 
with  tenfold  force  to  the  vast  and  complicated  chain 
of  problems  which  link  up  Russia,  Austria-Hungary, 
and  the  Balkans.  The  policy  of  splendid  isolation 
had  been  abandoned,  but  despite  the  growth  of  a 
system  of  ententes,  little  or  no  effort  was  made 
to  break  down  the  attitude  of  intellectual  isolation 
which  had  gradually  replaced  the  old  traditions  of 
active  interest  in  continental  affairs. 

Our  outlook  upon  the  Polish  Question  may  be 
regarded  as  a  classical  instance  of  this  psycho- 
logical change.  In  the  early  days  of  last  century 
Poland  held  an  equal  place  with  Greece  and  Italy 
in  the  sympathies  of  the  West,  and  her  tragic  fate 
after   the   unsuccessful    risings    of    1830    and    1863 

15 


16  INTRODUCTION 

accentuated  those  sympathies  still  farther.  But  in 
the  fifty  years  which  followed  there  has  been  a 
snapping  of  old  sentimental  ties,  a  loss  of  inter- 
course, and  an  almost  sepulchral  silence.  Poland 
has  been  almost  forgotten,  and  is  only  slowly 
swimming  back  into  our  ken,  as  the  result  of  the 
ghastly  tragedies  of  a  world  war.  It  is  fitting  that 
our  reviving  interest  should  take  the  form  of 
humanitarian  help  ;  for  the  Entente  Powers  have 
made  the  cause  of  small  nations  their  own,  and 
of  these  Poland  has  suffered  not  less  cruelly  than 
Belgium  and  Serbia.  But  our  interest  cannot  rest 
upon  a  merely  humanitarian  basis.  To-day  the 
Polish  Question  has  once  more  become  one  of  the 
keys  of  the  European  situation.  During  the  century 
and  a  half  which  have  elapsed  since  the  first  par- 
tition Poland  has  been  in  very  great  measure  the 
determining  factor  in  the  relations  between  Russia, 
Prussia,  and  Austria.  Prussia;,  by  identifying  Russia 
with  herself  in  holding  down  the  Poles,  has  created 
a  permanent  breach  between  the  two  main  branches 
of  the  Slavonic  race,  and  at  the  same  time  main- 
tained and  strengthened  the  colmmunity  of  interests 
between  the  two  chief  exponents  of  reactionary  and 
non -representative  government  in  Europe.  Now 
that  war  has  rudely  severed  the  main  threads  which 
united  Berlin  to  Petrograd,  it  ought  to  be  possible 
to  restore  confidence  and  friendship  between 
Russians  and  Poles.  It  is  obvious  that  real 
concord  in  the  Slav  world  is  unrealizable  unless 
liberty  be  accorded  to  the  Poles,  and  that  the  esiab- 


INTRODUCTION  17 

lishment  of  Russo -Polish  amity  on  sure  founda- 
tions would  be  welcomed  with  enthusiasm  by 
every  branch  of  the  Slavonic  race.  Fortunately, 
there  is  a  growing  perception,  among  all  classes 
of  Russians,  of  the  root-fact  that  friendship  with 
Germany  means  the  perpetuation  of  the  unnatural 
feud  with  Poland  and  German  exploitation  of 
Russian  and  Pole  alike.  Equally  clear  is  the 
corollary  that  Russia's  lasting  reconciliation  with 
Poland  would  deal  a  death-blow  to  Germanic  influ- 
ence in  Russia,  both  in  the  political  and  in  the 
economic  field.  The  mistakes  of  the  Russian 
administration  in  Galicia— now  frankly  admitted 
as  such  in  Petrograd  and  Moscow — and  the  German 
conquest  of  Russian  Poland  have  combined  to  create 
a  situation  to  which  the  old  ostrich  policy  of 
bureaucratic  Russia  is  obviously  incapable  of  pro- 
viding a  solution. 

But  if  the  Polish  Question  vitally  affects  Russia 
and  her  whole  future,  it  is  also  of  the  greatest 
possible  importance  for  the  Western  Powers  in  their 
struggle  against  German  "  kultur."  At  the  eleventh 
hour  British  public  opinion  has  suddenly  awakened 
to  the  significance  of  Germany's  political  plan.  The 
realization  of  the  programme  of  "  Berlin-Bagdad  " 
has  ceased  to  be  Utopian  ;  it  is  assuming  a  con- 
crete form  under  our  very  eyes.  It  involves  the 
creation  of  a  new  "  Central  Europe "  {Mittel- 
europa)—a  huge  State  dominated  by  Germany  and 
subjecting  the  Poles,  Czechs,  Slovaks,  Magyars, 
Roumanians,  and  Southern  Sla,vs  to  its  thrall.    The 

2 


18  INTRODUCTION 

economic  exploitation  of  Poland,  already  inaugu- 
rated by  the  German  conquerors  of  Warsaw,  would 
fortn  an  essential  feature  of  this  scheme. 

The  Allies  are  to-day  confronted  with  a  stern 
alternative.  Either  they  must  confess  themselves 
beaten  and  reconcile  themselves  to  a  German  hege- 
mony over  the  whole  territory  which  lies  between 
Hamburg  and  Basra,  or  they  must  answer  the 
programme  of  "  Central  Europe  "  by  a  rival  pro- 
gramme, not  less  practical  and  more  ideal  than 
that  of  the  Germans.  The  "  rights  of  the  smaller 
nationalities  of  Europe,"  more  than  once  publicly 
advocated  by  Mr.  Asquith  in  the  name  of  his 
Government,  represent  an  abstract  statement  of 
such  a  programme  ;  but  the  phrase  is  absolutely 
meaningless  unless  it  is  restated  to-day  in  concrete 
terms  of  the  European  situation.  The  first  step 
towards  the  creation  of  a  new  Europe  must  be  the 
emancipation  and  regeneration  of  the  democratic 
and  progressive  Slav  nations.  Free  Poland,  free 
Bohemia  and  Jugoslavia  (based  on  the  national 
unity  of  Serb,  Croat,  and  Slovene)— side  by  side 
with  a  free  Magyar  State  and  an  enlarged  Roumania 
—all  these  will  be  so  many  barriers  on  the  path  of 
aggressive  Germanism.  Without  them  no  barrier 
is  possible  ;  and  of  them  all  Poland  will  be  the 
most  powerful,  the  richest,  the  best  organized,  and, 
with  Bohemia,  the  most  highly  cultured.  With  its 
population  of  probably  not  less  than  twenty 
millions,  in  close  and  intimate  alliance  with  other 
Slavonic  nations,  it  will  take  rank  in  the  hierarchy 


INTRODUCTION  19 

of  nations  immediately  after  the  Great  Powers. 
Poland  can  never  be  revived  in  its  old  iiistoric 
form  as  the  mistress  of  other  races  ;  but  it  has  less 
to  fear  from  a  strict  application  of  ethnographic 
principles  than  any  of  its  neighbours.  The  country 
of  Sobieski  and  Kosciuszko,  of  Copernicus,  Mickie- 
wicz,  and  Chopin  has  nothing  to  fear  from  the 
free  development  of  its  own  destiny,  on  those  lines 
of  self-help,  co-operation,  and  intense  patriotism 
of  all  classes  which  have  enabled  it  to  survive 
120  years  of  national  extinction  and  foreign 
oppression. 

Mr.  Zaleski's  brief  survey  of  Polish  history  forms 
an  admirable  introduction  to  a  series  whose  aim  is 
the  interpretation  of  Poland  to  British  readers,  and 
will  be  welcomed  by  all  those  who  have  the  cause 
of  Slavonic  freedom  and  progress  at  heart  and  by 
the  even  larger  number  of  those  who  realize  the 
vital  part  which  the  relations  of  Slav  and  Briton 
will  play  in  the  future  development  of  Europe. 

E.   W.   SETON- WATSON. 


Landmarks  of  Polish  History 


THE    GROWTH    OF    THE    POLISH    STATE 

The  Polish  State  had  its  beginnings  in  a  union 
of  several  Slavonic  tribes.  These  combined  under 
the  rule  of  the  Piast  dynasty  to  defend  themselves 
against  the  aggressiveness  of  the  more  civilized  Holy 
Roman  Empire  in  the  West  and  the  less  civilized 
Northern  and  Southern  tribes.  In  964  King 
Mieczyslaw  I  married  Princess  Dombrowka  of 
Bohemia,  embraced  the  Roman  Catholic  faith,  and 
thereby  dealt  a  severe  blow  to  all  his  enemies.  He 
destroyed  the  pretext  for  German  invasions,  which 
had  as  their  aim  the  conversion  of  their  Eastern 
neighbours  to  Christianity  ;  and  at  the  same  time, 
by  getting  into  touch  with  the  Western  world,  gained 
a  freer  hand  in  dealing  with  his  other  enemies. 
The  eastward  movement  of  the  Teutons  in  the 
Upper  and  Middle  basin  of  the  Vistula  ceased,  and 
it  was  only  in  the  lower  reaches  of  the  river  that 
they  later  managed  to  establish  themselves  in  the 
fourteenth  century. 

The  fact  that  the  Poles  and  Czechs  and  Croats 
joined  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  had  far -reach- 


LANDMARKS    OF    POLISH    HISTORY     21 

ing  results.  It  divided  the  Slavonic  race  into  two 
groups,  v^hich  developed  along  different  lines.  The 
Czechs  and  the  Poles  evolved  a  civilization  essen- 
tially of  the  Western  type,  while  the  Southern  Slavs, 
Ruthenians,  and  Russians  embraced  the  Church  of 
Constantinople  and  developed  along  Eastern  models. 
The  former  followed  Rome,  the  latter  Byzantium. 
This  difference  remains  to  this  day  the  basis  of 
the  Slavonic  Question. 

The  last  King  of  the  Piast  dynasty  began  to 
transplant  Western  civilization  to  that  part  of 
Ruthenia  which  came  to  him  as  an  inheritance 
after  the  death  of  one  of  his  distant  relations,  andi 
which  is  now  known  as  Galicia.  Nearly  half  a 
century  later  the  young  Queen  Jadviga,  by  her 
marriage  with  the  Lithuanian  Prince  Jagiello,  de- 
termined a  similar  movement  in  the  North,  with 
the  difference  that  Ruthenia  was  a  member  of  the 
Eastern  Church  when  it  came  under  Polish  rule, 
while  Lithuania  was  pagan.  In  Lithuania,  how- 
ever, the  Poles  encountered  formidable  competitors, 
who,  under  the  pretext  of  converting  the  Lithuanians 
to  Christianity,  tried  to  establish  their  authority 
over  this  country  by  means  of  the  sword.  These 
were  the  two  Teutonic  religious  orders  (Cruciferi 
and  Ensiferi)  settled  on  the  shores  of  the  Baltic. 
They  succeeded  in  overcoming  some  of  the  Lithu- 
anian tribes,  while  the  rest  were  united  into  one 
State,  and,  being  strongly  pressed  from  the  north- 
west, advanced  in  a  south-easterly  direction,  where 
they    subdued    the    remainder    of   the    Ruthenian 


22     LANDMARKS    OR    POLISH     HISTORY 

Duchies.  Thus,  by  the  union  with  Lithuania,  Poland 
acquired  an  enormous  field  for  her  activity.  This 
field  was  further  extended  after  the  defeats  which 
Polish  and  Lithuanian  forces  inflicted  repeatedly 
on  the  German  military  Orders.  In  1466  the 
Teutonic  Knights  of  the  Gross  had  to  abandon  all 
their  possessions  on  the  Baltic  with  the  exception 
of  Eastern  Prussia,  held  by  them  under  the  suze- 
rainty of  the  Polish  Grown.  The  last  of  the  Great 
Masters  of  that  Order,  Albert  of  Brandenburg,  em- 
braced the  Protestant  religion  at  the  beginning  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  secularized  the  Order,  and 
proclaimed  himself  Hereditary  Duke  of  Prussia, 
whilst  remaining  a  vassal  of  the  Polish  Grown. 
The  same  fate  befell  the  Knights  of  the  Sword. 
They  ceded  to  Poland  the  Province  of  Livland, 
retaining  that  of  Gourland  as  vassals.  The  Jagiellons 
were  also  able  to,  establish  Polish  influence  in 
Bohemia  and  Hungary,  where  a  younger  Prince 
of  that  dynasty,  Vladislav,  was  elected  King  by  the 
Gzechs  in  1471,  and  by  the  Hungarians  in  1491. 
The  power  of  Poland  rose  to  its  highest  point. 
The  rule  of  the  Jagiellons  extended  from  the 
Baltic  to  the  Adriatic  and  the  Black  Sea.. 

But  tnilitary  and  political  power  is  not  the  essence 
of  true  greatness.  Something  more  is  required. 
A  spiritual  supremacy  means  far  more  than 
supremacy  of  the  swo^'d.  From  the  time  of  their 
adoption  of  Ghristianity,  the  Poles  paid  special 
attention  to,  the  furtherance  of  civilization.  The 
Italian    missionary    and    monk   brought   with    him 


LANDMARKS    OF    POLISH     HLSTORY     23 

from  the  West  the  first  wonders  of  science.  Schools 
were  opened  under  the  influence  of  the  Church. 
Poles  entered  into  the  great  family  of  Western 
civilization.  Early  in  the  thirteenth  century  this 
movement  was  checked  for  a  time  by  the  appear- 
ance of  the  Tartars  in  Europe  ;  they  vanquished 
the  Eastern  Slavs  and  moved  towards  the  West 
with  all  their  forces.  The  Poles  broke  their  ad- 
vance and  threw  them  back.  From  that  time  the 
Poles  were  constantly  engaged  in  opposing  incur- 
sions of  Tartars  and  Turks,  and  were  the  acknow- 
ledged defenders  of  Christianity  from  the  Eastern 
peril.  But  even  the  stress  of  this  conflict  could 
not  stop  the  advance  of  civilization. 

From  the  thirteenth  century  we  hear  of  many 
Poles  who  sought  knowledge  at  the  Italian  Uni- 
versities. The  scholars  brought  back  not  only  their 
quota  of  knowledge,  but  new  social  and  political 
ideas.  The  fourteenth  century  marked  the  ap- 
proaching end  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Poland  entered 
on  a  road  of  great  internal  reforms,  and  theology, 
philosophy,  and  the  knowledge  of  classical  litera- 
ture and  law  advanced  quickly.  In  1367  a  Faculty 
of  Law  was  opened  in  Cracow.  In  1400  this  was 
transformed  into  a  University  with  four  faculties : 
theology,  philosophy,  law,  and  medicine.  While 
some  teachers  were  brought  from  abroad,  the 
majority  were  Poles,  and  it  may  be  mentioned  that 
many  of  the  latter  were  derived  from  the  burgesses 
of  Cracow.  And  the  standard  of  these  Polish 
scientists  can  be  judged  from  the  prominent  place 


24     LANDMARKS    OF    POLISH     HISTORY 

they  occupied  as  lawyers  and  theologians  at  the 
Councils  of  the  Church.  Numerous  students  from 
France,  Germany,  Hungary,  and  Italy  sought  learn- 
ing in  Cracow.  The  teachers,  who  had  amongst 
their  disciples  such  men  as  Copernicus  and  St.  John 
Kanty,  must  themselves  have  been  men  of  no  little 
knowledge.  When  the  University  was  instituted  the 
Poles  fully  realized  its  importance.  It  served  only 
in  part  to  teach  the  young.  At  the  time  of  its 
opening  the  Poles  had  already  prominent  scientists 
who,  besides  lecturing,  devoted  much  of  their  time 
to  the  general  advancement  of  high  science.  At 
his  inaugural  lecture,  given  in  the  presence  of  the 
King  and  Queen,  the  first  Chancellor  of  the  Uni- 
versity, Peter  Wysz,  after  expressing  his  thanks  to 
their  Majesties,  declared  that  "  this  University  shall 
stand  and  fulfil  its  duty  so  long  as  the  King  of 
Poland's  sceptre  is  unbroken."  It  not  only  justi- 
fied this  hope,  but  did  better.  The  sceptre  was 
broken,  but  the  University  still  stands  and  dis- 
charges its  task  by  bringing  up  new  generations 
of  workers,  who,  in  the  toil  of  everyday  life,  strive 
for  the  uplifting  of  their  country. 

With  the  advance  of  science  came  a  great  de- 
velopment of  art  and  literature.  Magnificent  build- 
ings in  the  Renaissance  style  were  erected.  Much 
fine  work  in  prose  and  poetry  was  published,  both 
in  Polish  and  Latin.  Through  the  constant  inter- 
course with  the  West,  the  ideas  of  the  Reformation 
flowed  into  Poland,  and  the  new  ideas  were  received 
with     applause    both     by     the    nobility    and    the 


LANDMARKS    OE    POLISH    HISTORY;     25 

burgesses.  But  the  Protestantism  of  Poland  had 
a  somewhat  different  character  from  that  of 
Western  Europe.  The  quiet  agricultural  Polish 
population  did  not  care  much  about  discussions 
and  quarrels  about  diverse  religious  dogmas.  What 
the  Poles  desired  was  to  keep  the  religious  dogmas, 
hierarchy,  and  rituals  intact.  And  the  whole  move- 
ment was  rather  national  than  religious.  It  had 
as  its  chief  aim  the  release  of  the  Church  fromi 
dependence  on  Rome,  and  the  formation  of  a  Council 
of  Bishops,  under  the  presidency  of  the  King,  as 
the  supreme  power  in  religious  matters.  Owing 
to  the  masterful  policy  of  Rome  this  plan  fell 
through  ;  but  the  great  national  movement  con- 
tinued, its  chief  result  being  to  free  Polish  literature 
from  an  excessive  Latin  element,  and  to  induce  an 
accentuation  of  national  feeling  and  a  broadening  of 
ideas  which  were  bound  up  with  the  Reformation. 
It  may  be  added  that  from  early  times  the  Poles 
displayed  a  natural  disposition  towards  religious 
tolerance.  Ample  proof  of  this  can  be  found  in 
the  fact  that  the  Inquisitions,  so  common  in  other 
States,  were  unknown  among  them.  It  has  always 
been  a  fact  that,  themselves  fervent  Catholics,  the 
Poles  have  not  forced  their  religion  on  the  unwilling. 
There  is  a  good  deal  of  truth  in  the  assertion  that 
this  was  one  of  the  many  reasons  why  the  Roman 
religion  flourished  in  Poland  and  Protestantism  lost 
ground. 


II 

POLAND    AT    THE    HEIGHT    OF    HER 
DEVELOPMENT 

In  Poland  the  scientific,  literary,  and  religious 
movement  of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries 
could  not  fail  to  influence  political  ideas  and  their 
bearing  on  the  existing  social  and  political  structure 
of  the  country.  The  study  of  classical  philosophers 
and  political  writers,  modified  by  the  trend  of 
Protestant  thought,  gave  rise  to  a  special  school 
of  Polish  political  philosophers.  This  was  based 
on  two  main  principles  :  firstly,  the  best  form  of 
government  is  a  republic ;  secondly,  all  men  are 
equal  before  the  law  and  absolutely  free  in  so  far 
as  thej^  act  vdthin  the  limit  of  that  law.  These 
ideas,  however,  were  subject  to  the  same  limita- 
tion as  in  the  classic  republic.  Only  men  of  a 
certain  class  were  accounted  full -citizens— namely, 
the  nobility.  This  principle,  however,  was  applied 
very  differently  in  Poland  as  compared  with  other 
European  countries.  Feudalisrm^as  unknown.  At 
the  outset  there  was  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 
more  influential  aristocracy  to  take  the  government 
of  the  country  into  its  hands  through  the  agency 
of  the  Crown,  but  this  venture  met  with  stout  re- 
sistance from  the  knighthood.  The  conflict  was 
short.  Owing  to  the  stronger  position  of  the 
knights  as  defenders  of  the  country,  the  aristocracy 

96 


LANDMARKS    OF    POLISH     HISTORY     27 

had  even  to  abandon  its  special  rights  and  influ- 
ence and  merge  into  the  knighthood.  From  the 
coalecsence  of  these  two  classes  the  Polish  nobility 
arose.  Within  it  all  were  equal.  There  were  no 
titles.  The  only  distinction  in  rank  depended  on 
executive  offices,  to  which  any  noble  could  aspire. 
But  the  nobility  adopted  t^^e  Aristotelian  view  of 
the  other  classes.  Both  buigesses  and  villains  were 
looked  upon  as  citizens  without  full  rights.  Their 
status,  however,  was  much  better  than  that  of 
similar  classes  in  other  European  countries  of  the 
time,  excepting  England,  where,  owing  to  peculiar 
economic  circumstances  due  to  an  insular  position 
and  the  loss  of  population  caused  by -the  Black 
Death,  villainage  decayed  spontaneojusly. 

While  achieving  internal  equality  as  nobles,  the 
dominant  class  was  also  able  to  secure  for  itself 
rights  and  privileges  which  practically  placed  the 
government  of  the  country  iii  its  hands.  By  the 
end  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  Polish  Parliament, 
called  in  Polish  "  Sejm,"  was  organized,  and,  by 
securing  the  power  of  voting  supplies  and  con- 
trolling the  military  service  of  the  Knights  became 
virtually  the  Government.  Parliament  consisted  of 
two  Chambers  :  the  Upper  Chamber  or  the  Senate, 
composed  of  higher  officials  of  the  State,  and  the 
Lower  Chamber,  consisting  of  members  elected  by 
constituencies.  The  powers  of  the  King  were 
subject  to  constitutional  limitations.  In  1430  the 
King  had  to  sign  an  Act  ensuring  the  personal 
liberty  of  his  subjects,  whom  he  promised  never 
to    arrest    without    fair    trial.     The    maximum    of 


28     LANDMARKS    OF     POLISH     HISTORY 

lib'erty  was  reached  when,  after  the  death  of  the 
last  Jagiellon  King  (1572),  the  throne  was  made 
elective,  every  nobleman  having  a  right  to  ascend 
it.  The  State  was  called  a  Republic,  and  the  King's 
position  became  that  of  Primus  inter  pares.  These 
changes  were  not  brought  about  in  a  haphazard 
way  ;  they  resulted  from  deep  thought  and  scientific 
inquiries.  Even  if  mistakes  were  made  and 
eventually  produced  disastrous  consequences,  in 
their  time  the  reforms  were  the  wonder  of  Europe. 
The  works  of  such  Polish  political  writers  as 
Goslicki  were  translated  into  various  European 
languages,  and  subsequently  suppressed  by  Govern- 
ments as  dangerously  liberal  in  their  outlook. 
Goslicki's  principal  work,  first  published  in  1568, 
was  translated  into  English  under  the  title  :— 

The  counsellor  .  .  .  wherein  the  offices  of  magistrates,  the 
happie  life  of  subjects,  and  the  felicities  of  Commonweales 
is  pleasantly  and  pithlie  discoursed.  A  golden  worke,  re- 
plenished with  the  chief  learning  of  the  most  excellent  Philo- 
sophers and  Lawgivers,  and  not  only  profitable  and  verie 
necessarie  for  all  those  that  be  admitted  to  the  administration 

of  a  well-governed  Commonweale. 

London,  1598. 

Its  purpose  can  be  seen  from  the  opening 
phrases  : — 

As  every  man  well  knoweth  those  Commonweales  be  most 
blessed  where  men  do  live  in  peace  ;  so  are  those  countries 
miserable  where  people  are  not  maintained  in  securitie.  And 
as  everie  Commonweale  is  happie  wherein  subjects  are  good, 
so  in  good  Commonweales  no  subject  can  be  unfortunate. 

This  work  was  republished  in  1607,  and  a  new 
translation  again^  attempted  in  1733  by  W.  Oldis- 


LANDMARKS    OF    POLISH     HISTORY     29 

.worth.  In  the  preface  to  the  latter  issue  the  trans- 
lator says  that  even  in  his  time  the  work  is  still 
looked  upon  as  "  advanced,"  and  tries  to  safeguard 
himself  against  its  possible  suppression  by  invoking 
the  protection  of  many  eminent  men  of  the  time. 
He  goes  on  to  say  :— 

There  have  been  many  Authors  who  have  written  freely 
of  the  Office  and  Duty  of  a  King ;  and  they  have  met  with 
Favourable  Reception,  whilst  they  kept  their  Pens  within  the 
Bounds  of  that  Deference  and  Submission,  which  is  due  to  the 
Superior  Grandeur  and  Dignity  of  the  Sceptre.  Goslicki  has 
with  great  Delicacy  touched  upon  this  Subject.  .  .  . 

When  the  Differences  between  a  British  and  Polish  Govern- 
ment are  removed  and  set  aside  or  amicably  compromised  and 
adjusted,  what  Goslicki  hath  advanced  in  Defence  of  Loyalty 
and  Liberty,  and  to  make  these  Two  Principles  compatible 
will,  I  hope  deserve  the  attention  of  such  Patriots,  as  are  alike 
Zealous  for  the  Prerogatives  of  the  Crown,  and  the  hiterests  of 
the  People. 

In  conclusion,  Oldisworth  says : — 

As  the  People  of  Poland  have  all  along  been  noted  for  their 
Great  Learning  and  Knowledge,  the  Inseparable  Companions 
and  Sure  Supporters  of  Liberty,  so  they  have  in  midst  of  a 
disadvantageous  Soil  and  Clime  always  maintained  a  Character 
of  Dignity  and  Grandeur  ;  have  often  Distinguished  them- 
selves by  their  Wisdom,  Bravery,  and  Conduct ;  and  at  one 
time  particularly  in  so  Glorious  a  Manner,  that  they  seemed  to 
have  Good  Claim  to  the  Title  of  The  Deliverers  of  Europe  from 
Infidelity  and  Slavery ;  on  which  account,  there  is  perhaps 
a  good  deal  of  Deference  due  to  them  ;  and  they  may  well 
be  admitted  as  Advocates  of  That  Liberty,  which  by  their 
Arms  they  so  bravely  Defended  ;  At  least  they  may  expect 
to  be  Heard  with  Patience  upon  so  Agreeable  a  Subject,  by  Us, 
their  Constant  and  Firm  Allies,  of  whom,  for  our  Love  of 
Liberty,  they  have  had  so  Good  an  Opinion,  that  Remote  as  we 
are  from  Them  they  have  more  than  once  attempted  to  set 
an  Englishman  upon  the  Throne  of  Poland. 


Ill 

THE    DECLINE    OF    POLAND 

After  the  splendid  development  of  Poland  in  the 
fourteenth,  fifteenth,  and  sixteenth  centuries,  when 
that  country  reached  the  zenith  of  her  power  and 
won  the  esteem  of  Europe,  both  for  her  eminence 
in  the  arts  and  sciences  and  her  liberal  constitu- 
tional and  social  systems,  a  decline  ensued.  It  is 
a  commonplace  that  the  essence  of  good  politics 
is  compromise,  and  a  lack  of  compromise  largely 
accounted  for  Poland's  retrogression.  The  ideas 
of  liberty  put  forward  so  ably  by  Polish  political 
thinkers  of  the  sixteenth  century  and  carried  into 
practice  so  admirably  at  the  time  began  to 
degenerate  in  the  seventeenth  century. 

The  principle  of  personal  freedom  when  carried 
too  far  may  easily  lead  the  way  to  disintegration  ; 
popular  control  of  the  Government  under  simitar 
conditions  may  end  in  an  undesirable  weakening 
of  the  executive.  To  a  citizen  of  a  State  so  well 
organized  as  Great  Britain  social  order  in  its  widest 
sense  seems  a  necessity  to  be  taken  for  granted, 
and  it  requires  an  effort  of  imagination  to  realize 
how  much   careful  thought  has  been   expended  in 

adjusting  such  principles  as  those  of  personal  free- 
so 


LANDMARKS    OF    POLISH     HISTORY     31 

dom  and  supremacy  of  the  State,  of  popular  con- 
trol and  stable  government.  It  is  commonly 
acknowledged  by  Polish  and  foreign  historians  alike 
that  the  maladjustment  of  personal  freedom  and 
popular  control,  on  the  one  hand,  and  State 
guidance,  on  the  other,  were  the  chief  causes  of 
the  internal  disruption  of  Poland  during  the  seven- 
teenth century.  The  principle  of  freedom  was 
carried  to  such  excess  that  every  law  passed  by 
the  Chamber  of  Deputies  required  a  unanimous 
vote.  A  single  veto  threw  out  a  Bill !  This  made 
legislation  by  Parliament  almost  impossible  ;  the 
main  power  passed  into  the  hands  of  local  councils, 
which  became  almost  autonomous.  These  councils, 
called  "  sejmik,"  were  composed  of  the  local 
nobility,  and  began  to  pass  laws  special  to  the  area 
in  which  they  acted  without  reference  to  national 
requirements.  This  system  divided  the  country,  into 
a  number  of  small  provinces  too  loosely  connected, 
and  thus  greatly  diminished  the  coherence  of  the 
State  as  a  whole.  As  electors  of  the  Kings,  the 
nobles  were  in  a  position  to  curtail  the  centralized 
authority  until  it  almost  disappeared.  The  fact  that 
the  King  could  be  elected  not  merely  from  among 
the  Polish  nobility  but  from  one  of  the  foreign 
royal  families,  gave  foreign  monarchs  the  oppor- 
tunity to  interfere  in  the  internal  affairs  of  the 
country.  Poland  became  the  ground  on  which 
France  and  Austria  tried  to  gain  supremacy  in 
Europe  by  extending  their  influence,  while  Russia 
from  the  time  of  Peter  the  Great  had  in  mind  the 


32     LANDMARKS    OF    POLISH    HISTORY 

annexation  of  the  country.  Two  other  factors 
tended  to  weaken  Poland.  In  the  first  place,  the 
Roman  Catholic  reaction  which  affected  all  Europe 
in  the  seventeenth  century  was  very  marked  in 
Poland.  The  admirable  laws  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  granting  perfect  freedom  of  conscience  to 
all  inhabitants  of  Poland  and  resulting  in  an  inflow 
of  Protestants  from  many  European  countries,  were 
forgotten.  Indeed,  in  1733  all  non-Catholics  were 
deprived  of  the  right  of  entering  Parliament  and 
the  Civil  Service.  The  second  factor  was  the  limita- 
tion of  the  franchise  to  the  nobility.  It  cannot 
be  too  strongly  impressed  on  the  student  of  Polish 
affairs  that  the  term  "  nobility "  in  Poland  con- 
noted a  status  peculiar  to  the  country.  The  class 
of  nobles  formed  by  the  amalgamation  of  the  aris- 
tocracy with  the  knighthood  was  very  numerous— 
in  fact,  it  amounted  to  over  10  per  cent,  of  the 
population.  A  franchise  limited  to  this  proportion 
might  have  been  a  success  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  for  then  the  prosperity  of  the  Polish 
bourgeoisie  had  not  been  damaged  by  the  nobility, 
who  pursued  their  agriculture  and  did  not  interfere 
with  the  traders  ;  and  the  burgesses,  on  their  side, 
were  not  strong  enough  to  better  their  position. 
Rut  when  Russia  began  to  export  large  quantities 
of  corn  and  so  damaged  the  interests  of  the  Polish 
gentlemen  farmers,  the  nobility,  unable  to  meet  this 
competition,  used  their  power  as  a  privileged  class 
to  free  themselves  from  the  burden  of  taxation  and 
to    increase    that    of    the    burgesses.     This    gave 


LANDMARKS     OF     POLISH     HISTORY     33 

rise  to  considerable  friction,  and  the  strained 
relations  between  the  classes  resulted  in  oppression. 

Simultaneously  Poland  was  engaged  in  a  series 
of  wars.  She  was  subject  to  constant  invasions 
by  Swedes,  Moscovites,  Turks,  and  Tartars.  So 
strong,  however,  was  the  organization  of  Poland 
in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  that  all  the 
misgovernment  of  the  subsequent  century  did  not 
materially  weaken  her  for  a  time.  She  withstood 
all  the  attacks  of  the  Turks  and  Tartars  of  the 
period,  and  even  proceeded  to  the  rescue  of  Vienna 
in  1683,  when  that  city,  and  with  her  all  Christian 
Europe,  was  threatened  by  a  great  Mussulman  in- 
vasion. The  coup  was  so  splendid  that  it  won 
for  King  John  Sobieski,  the  commander  of  the  army, 
a  fame  that  is  fresh  to-day. 

All  Europe  united  in  his  praise.  Innumerable 
books  and  poems  were  written  in  various  languages 
to  commemorate  this  victory,  England  not  being 
the  last  to  honour  the  Polish  King.  Among  others, 
Alexander  Tyler  published  in  1685  a  poem  extend- 
ing to  155  pages,  in  which  he  gave  a  full  biography 
of  King  John  III  and  described  his  gallant  deeds. 
This  is  how  Tyler  began  his  poem: — 

When  the  whole  world  of  men  in  Christendom, 
The  Eastern  Church  of  Greece,  Western  of  Rome, 
The  Orthodox,  Reformed,  purer  Church, 
And  all  their  sov'ral  sects  lay  at  the  Lurch  .  .  . 
•Then  like  a  mighty  Angel  sent  from  Heaven, 
Or  like  those  Cherubims  to  Eden  given. 
With  Flaming  sword  to  fence  the  tree  of  life. 
Great  SobieskHs  Hand  cut  off  the  strife. 

3 


34     LAN^DMARKS    OF    POLISH     HISTORY 

But  internal  disorder  could  not  remain  without 
effect  on  the  military  power  of  the  country,  especi- 
ally as  the  governing  class,  fearing  an  increase  of 
the  prerogatives  of  the  Crown,  would  not  vote 
supplies  for  the  maintenance  of  an  Army,  and  still 
clung  to  the  old  system  of  mobilizing  the  whole 
nobility  in  case  of  war.  As  an  outcome,  Poland 
suffered  severe  losses.  Not  only  was  she  deprived 
of  a  part  of  her  territory,  but  also  lost  her  status 
as  a  Great  Power. 

Her  territory  beyond  the  Dnieper  and  Kieff  were 
ceded  to  Moscow.  Sweden  took  Livland.  The 
rulers  of  Prussia,  Moldavia,  and  Wallachia,  who 
were  vassals  of  the  Polish  Crown,  refused  allegi- 
ance ;  and  much  against  the  wish  and  interests  of 
Poland,  the  Prussian  Prince  went  so  far  as  to 
assume  the  title  of  King  within  his  territory. 

Standing  aside  from  the  Thirty  Years  War, 
Poland  had  no  influence  on  the  international 
arrangements  adopted  at  the  Conferences  of 
Miinster  and  Osnabriick,  and  finally  established 
by  the  Westphaiian  Treaty.  Exhausted  by  constant 
wars  and  misgoverned,  she  had  to  endure  the  arro- 
gance of  her  former  Prussian  vassal.  Such  a  state 
of  things  could  not  continue  long  with  a  nation 
like  the  Poles.  In  the  second  quarter  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  a  strong  regenerating  movement 
began.  At  first  this  was  the  work  of  individual 
men,  but  shortly  it  widened,  and  by  the  middle  of 
the  century  had  grown  to  a  great  national  move- 
ment.     Sweeping   reforms   on    a   democratic  basis 


LANDMARKS    OF    POLISH     HISTORY     35 

were  initiated,  but  unfortunately  they  came  too  late. 
The  neighbouring  Powers  could  not  but  view  this 
revival  with  disfavour,  as  it  was  already  their  object 
to  dismember  the  weakened  country.  As  early  as 
1732  the  Courts  of  Berlin,  St.  Petersburg,  and  Vienna 
signed  a  convention  whereby  the  high  contracting 
parties  made  it  their  business  to  prevent  reforms 
in  Poland.  As  they  could  not  attain  their  purpose 
by  diplomacy,  they  subdued  Poland  by  arms  when 
she  was  already  on  the  upward  path.  By  this  act 
they  not  only  increased  their  territory,  but  destroyed 
a  neighbour,  whose  liberal  and  democratic  methods 
might  have  had  a  perilous  influence  on  their  own 
autocratically-governed  people. 


IV 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  REGENERATION  AND 
THE  FALL  OF  POLAND 

The  regenerating  movement  in  Poland  was  gaining 
ground  when  King  August  III  died  in  1763.  Thus 
an  election  was  in  prospect.  Parliament  began  by 
introducing  reforms  to  enforce  the  Executive  ;  to 
facilitate  the  proceedings  of  the  Houses,  hampered 
until  then  by  the  need  of  unanimous  decisions ; 
to  improve  the  position  of  burgesses  and  peasants  ; 
to  strengthen  the  economic  condition  of  the  coun- 
try ;  and,  finally,  to  increase  the  military  power 
of  the  State.  Several  of  these  reforms  were  carried 
into  effect,  but  the  most  salient  never  reached  the 
Statute  Book  because  Prussia  and  Russia,  whose 
army  occupied  the  chief  towns  in  Poland,  wished 
to  ensure  the  election  of  Russia's  candidate, 
Stanislas   August   Poniatowski. 

Constant  intrigues  by  the  Ambassadors  of  the 
neighbouring  Powers  caused  great  discontent  among 
the  Poles,  who  started  a  counter -movement :  the 
Confederation  of  Bar.  This  led  to  much  internal 
disorder,  as  the  King  and  his  party  were  under 
Russia's  protection,  and  had  no  thought  of  dis- 
carding it. 

36 


LANDMARKS    OF     POLISH     HISTORY     37 

Meanwhile  Russia  vanquished  Turkey,  and 
Austria,  intimidated  by  the  victory,  drew  nearer 
to  Prussia  and  Turkey  in  order  to  cripple  Russia. 

A  remedy  was  soon  found  by  Prussia.  Wishing 
to  use  Turkey  as  an  ally  against  Russia,  she  pro- 
posed that  the  latter  should  not  make  the  mO)St 
of  her  victory,  but  take  instead  a  part  of  Poland, 
while  Austria  and  Prussia  compensated  themselves 
in  the  same  way.  All  agreed  to  the  proposal,  and 
a  formal  treaty  was  signed  in  February  1772.  In 
August  the  occupation  of  the  annexed  territory  was 
an  accomplished  fact.  The  Powers  concerned  re- 
quested the  Polish  Government  to  sanction  the 
partition.  The  King  appealed  to  the  Western 
Powers,  but  the  allied  armies  speedily  occupied 
Warsaw,  and  Parliament  was  coerced  by  arms  to 
sanction  treaties  with  Austria,  Prussia,  and  Russia, 
ceding  to  them  the  territories  which  they  had 
previously  arranged  among  themselves  to  seize. 

At  the  same  time  Russia  inserted  a  clause  in 
her  treaty  to  the  effect  that  no  change  of  the  Polish 
Constitution  should  take  place  without  her  consent, 
and  to  back  this  policy  her  Ambassador  in  Warsaw 
had  a  Russian  garrison  at  his  disposal.  Neverthe- 
less many  reforms  were  initiated  and  established. 
In  1778  the  so-called  Commission  of  Education  was 
formed,  and  all  business  concerning  public  edu- 
cation fell  to  it.  This  was  the  first  Roard  of 
Education  established  in  Europe.  Its  earliest  work 
was  to  secularize  the  schools  and  to  reform  them 
on  principles  laid  down  by  tlie  French  philosophers 


38     LANDMARKS    OF    POLISH     HISTORY 

of  the  time.  Care  was  also  taken  to  further  agri- 
culture, industry,  and  commerce,  the  Government 
assisting  those  who  undertook  new  enterprises  in 
industry  or  sought  to  improve  old  ones  on  a  sound 
economic  basis  and  with  a  reasonable  prospect  of 
success.  Political  reforms  were  also  in  preparation. 
Polish  scientists,  besides  devoting  time  to  the  study 
of  social  and  political  questions,  entered  into  touch 
with  such  eminent  thinkers  of  the  period  as 
Rousseau,  Mably,  and  others  ;  these  latter,  on  re- 
quest, wrote  treatises  on  Polish  affairs  and  recom- 
mended reforms.  Unfortunately,  promising  reforms 
could  not  always  be  put  into  practice,  as  the  Russian 
Ambassador  used  the  treaty  against  them.  In  1787, 
however,  the  international  situation  was  greatly 
changed.  Turkey  declared  war  on  Russia  ;  Austria, 
according  to  her  treaty  with  Russia,  in  her  turn 
declared  war  on  Turkey.  Profiting  by  this  situa- 
tion, Sw^eden  broke  off  diplomatic  relations  with 
Russia  and  began  hostilities.  England,  Holland, 
and  Prussia  were  ready  to  back  Turkey.  The  Poles 
had  two  roads  open  to  them :  to  enter  into  an 
alliance  with  Russia  and  Austria,  or  to  join  the 
other  Powers  standing  by  Prussia.  King  Frederick 
William  II  made  very  profitable  offers  to  Poland, 
promising  her  to  free  her  from  the  influence  of 
Russia.  On  March  29,  1790,  a  defensive  and  offen- 
sive treaty  was  signed  between  Poland  and  Prussia, 
by  which  each  Power  was  bound  to  intervene  should 
the  other  be  attacked. 

But  the  international  situation  speedily  changed. 


LANDMARKS    OF    POLISH     HISTORY     39 

Russia's  ally,  Joseph  II,  died,  and  his  successor 
Leopold,  breaking  off  the  alliance  with  Russia  in 
July  1790,  concluded  a  treaty  with  Prussia.  This 
weakened  the  position  of  Poland,  as  her  alliance 
with  Prussia  was  no  longer  of  vital  importance 
to  the  latter.  Moreover,  in  August  of  the  samej 
year,  the  King  of  Sweden  concluded  peace  with' 
Russia.  Poland  felt  her  insecurity,  but  continued 
her  constructive  work  ;  to  remedy  most  of  the  evils 
of  the  governmental  system  a  new  Constitution  was 
enacted  by  Parliament  and  accepted  by  the  King- 
on  May  3,  1791.  The  Throne  was  made  hereditary, 
the  right  of  liberum  veto  abolished.  The  position 
of  burgesses  and  peasants  was  substantially  im- 
proved. The  Constitution,  acknowledged  through- 
out Europe  as  a  model  of  its  kind,  won  the  high 
appreciation  of  many  scientists  and  philosophers, 
among  them  Edmund  Rurke.  Austria  and  Prussia 
joined  in  the  chorus  of  appreciation,  but  it  was 
a  cause  of  anxiety  in  Russia.  Shortly  afterwards 
the  international  situation  changed  in  favour  of  the 
last  Power.  France  declared  war  on  Austria.  With 
Austria  out  of  the  field,  Russia  no  longer  feared 
Prussia.  In  May  1792  the  Russian  Ambassador 
formally  declared  war  on  Poland.  Rut  Poland  had 
not  had  time  to  carry  out  reforms  under  the  new 
Constitution,  and  was  unprepared  for  war.  Ii^ 
accordance  with  the  treaty  of  1790,  the  Polish 
Envoy  at  Berlin  asked  for  Prussia's  support,  but 
the  King  answered  that  he  did  not  consider  himself 
bound   to   intervene,    as    Poland   had   changed   her 


40     LANDMARKS    OF    POLISH     HISTORY 

Constitution  without  his  assent.  Poland  being 
practically  without  an  army,  Russia  entered 
Warsaw. 

Meanwhile  between  the  Courts  of  Berlin,  St. 
Petersburg,  and  Vienna  negotiations  were  proceed- 
ing for  a  new  partition,  but  as  Austria  was  occu- 
pied with  France,  Prussia  and  Russia  alone  took 
part  in  it.  The  Polish  Parliament,  meeting  at 
Grodno,  was  again  compelled  to  sanction  the  par- 
tition. A  Russian  garrison  of  thirty  thousand  men 
remained  in  Poland  at  the  disposal  of  the  Russian 
Ambassador,  and  the  Constitution  of  1791  was 
shelved. 

Yet  again  the  Poles  resisted.  A  revolution  was 
proclaimed  in  Cracow  on  March  24, 1794,  the  leader- 
ship being  placed  in  the  hands  of  General  Tadeusz 
Kosciuszko.  By  the  promise  of  liberation  of  the 
peasants  and  their  enlistment  as  volunteers  a  con- 
siderable army  was  formed,  and  war  declared  on 
Russia.  At  first  the  Poles  were  victorious,  but  the 
King  of  Prussia  came  to  Russia's  assistance,  and  the 
Poles  could  not  withstand  the  combination.  While 
hostilities  were  actually  carried  on  negotiations  for 
a  third  partition  proceeded.  A  treaty  was  signed 
between  Austria,  Prussia,  and  Russia  in  January 
1795.  On  November  25th  of  the  same  year  King 
Stanislas  August  was  forced  to  abdicate.  The  three 
participating  Powers  believed  that  now  the  Polish 
Question  was  finally  settled.  They  were  to  learn 
however,  that  they  had  become  masters  of  a  race 
whose  individuality  could  not  be  killed. 


THE    TEMPORARY    RECONSTRUCTION    OF    AN 
INDEPENDENT    POLISH    STATE 

By  the  1795  partition  the  ancient  Polish  State 
was  brought  to  an  eri^d.  The  territory  of  a  once- 
flourishing  Republic  was  divided  among  her  three 
neighbours.  Russia  annexed  the  Lithuanian  and 
Ruthenian  provinces,  while  the  territory  forming 
ethnographical  Poland  was  unequally  divided 
between  Austria  and  Prussia,  the  latter  taking 
the  largest  share,  with  Warsaw,  the  capital  of  the 
country. 

Immediately  after  the  three  Powers,  in  the  words 
of  Frederick,  *'  partook  and  communicated  of  the 
body  of  Poland,"  a  fact  which,  in  his  opinion,  would 
bind  the  countries  in  an  eternal  friendship,  the 
Prussian  Government  sought  to  destroy  everything 
Polish.  Even  the  old  names  of  districts  were  re- 
placed by  German  ones,  the  areas  of  New  East 
Prussia  and  New  Silesia  being  constituted.  Further, 
the  Government  introduced  Prussian  administration, 
suspended  Polish  laws,  forced  the  German  language 
on  all  State  institutions ;  also  it  removed  Poles 
from  all  official  positions,  and  in  general  prevented 
their  participation  in  public  affairs.     Briefly,  the 

41 


42     LANDMARKS    OF     POLISH     HISTORY 

people  were  subjected  to  the  regime  of  the  Prussian 
bureaucracy.  The  property  of  the  Church  was 
seized  by  the  Treasury.  The  great  improvements 
made  in  the  position  of  the  peasantry  during  the 
last  years  of  independence  were  abolished,  their 
status  being  reduced  to  the  Prussian  standard. 
Similar  methods  were  adopted  in  the  Austrian 
part,  called  now  the  Kingdom  of  Galicia  and 
Lodomeria. 

In  Russian  Poland  Catherine  II  confiscated  many 
estates,  and  proved  anything  but  a  friend  to  the 
Church.  Her  successors,  however,  the  Emperors 
Paul  and  Alexander  I,  were  less  arbitrary  in  their 
methods.  The  latter  discountenanced  harsh  treat- 
ment of  the  Poles,  for  some  time  at  any  rate.  He 
entrusted  the  supervision  of  education  among  them 
to  a  Pole,  Prince  Adam  Czartoryski,  who  introduced 
a  system  based  on  the  principles  laid  down  by  the 
Polish  Parliament  before  the  dismemberment. 

But  the  daily  struggle  against  Austrian  and 
Prussian  schemes  did  not  occupy  the  whole  atten- 
tion of  the  Poles.  They  were  busily  engaged  in 
forming  plans  for  the  reconstitution  of  their  country 
as  a  sovereign  State.  There  were  two  possibilities 
open  to  them  at  the  moment :  they  could  turn 
towards  Russia  or  France.  The  kindly  disposi- 
tion of  Alexander  I  towards  the  Poles  made  them 
hope  that  he  would  be  willing  to  reconstruct  Poland 
as  an  independent  kingdom  under  his  rule.  The 
project  was  laid  before  the  Czar  by  Prince  Czar- 
toryski.     The   Czar   hesitated   for  some   time,  but 


LANDMARKS    OF    POLISH     HISTORY     43 

unfortunately  accepted  advice  tendered  by  the  King 
of  Prussia,  and  rejected  the  proposaL  All  the  hopes 
of  Poland  now  turned  towards  France,  where  a 
good  many  Polish  emigrants  found  shelter,  and 
from  whence  the  message  of  liberty  had  gone  forth 
to  all  Europe.  The  Poles  in  France  had  organized 
legions  of  their  countrymen,  and  these  fought  side 
by  side  with  the  French. 

In  1806,  when  the  King  of  Prussia  declared  war 
on  France,  Napoleon  decided  to  avail  himself  of 
the  services  of  the  Poles.  He  proclaimed  the  inde- 
pendence of  Poland  as  the  chief  aim  of  his  cam- 
paign, and  called  for  an  insurrection  in  that  country. 
The  Poles  took  to  arms.  Napoleon  was  victorious, 
and  by  the  following  Treaty  of  Tilsit  an  independent 
Polish  State  once  more  appeared  on  the  map  pf 
Europe.  But  the  Powers  which  took  part  in  the 
division  of  Poland  used  all  their  influence  to  prevent 
the  new  State  from'  retaining  its  name.  Thus  the 
Duchy  of  Warsaw  was  set  up,  and  consisted  of  no 
more  than  a  part  of  Prussian  Poland.  All  the 
Baltic  coast,  with  the  exception  of  Dantzig,  now 
made  a  free  city,  went  to  Prussia,  while  the  district 
of  Bialystok  was  handed  to  the  Czar  by  way  of 
compensation. 

The  Duchy  of  Warsaw  was  given  as  an  hereditary, 
possession  to  the  King  of  Saxony  by  Napoleon,  who 
granted  it  an  ostensibly  liberal  Constitution,  which 
ensured  religious  toleration,  the  equality  of  all 
citizens  in  the  eyes  of  the  law,  ihe  use  of  the 
national  language,  a  two-chamber  Legislature  with 


44     LANDMARKS    OF     POLISH    HISTORY 

a  Ministry  responsible  to  it,  and  an  army  of  fifty 
thousand. 

The  creation  of  a  small  Duchy  inevitably  failed 
to  satisfy  the  Poles.  Moreover,  its  Constitution 
was  in  reality  very  unsatisfactory.  The  franchise 
,was  very  limited,  personal  liberty  was  not  guaran- 
teed, and  there  was  no  freedom  of  the  Press  ;  and 
^though  emancipation  of  the  peasants  was  a  feature, 
no  provision  was  made  for  their  subsistence,  so 
that  they  remained  essentially  dependent  on  the 
landowners.  Again,  the  Poles  understood  that 
Napoleon  created  the  Duchy  for  his  own  purposes, 
and  therefore  did  not  feel  safe  against  some  new 
turn  of  his  policy.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  the 
Duchy  represented  a  great  improvement  on  the  con- 
ditions to  which  the  Poles  were  subjected  prior  to 
its  creation.  At  once  the  huge  task  of  organizing 
the  country  was  started,  and  once  more  the  Poles 
showed  their  characteristic  vitality.  They  paid 
special  attention  to  economic  development  and 
education.  But  the  new  order  of  things  had 
scarcely  been  established  when  Austria  declared 
war  on  Napoleon  in  1809.  Simultaneously  the 
Austrian  armies  crossed  the  frontier  of  the  Duchy. 
The  Archduke  Ferdinand,  commanding  the  Austrian 
army,  declared  that  he  was  entering  the  Duchy 
not  as  an  enemy,  but  as  the  liberator  of  Poland 
from  French  rule.  The  Poles,  however,  effectively 
opposed  the  "  liberator,"  and  when  hostilities  were 
ended  found  themselves  in  the  possession  of  a  great 
part  of  Austrian   Poland.     In  the   peace  negotia- 


LANDMARKS    OE    POLISH    HISTORY     45 

tions,  conducted  in  Vienna,  however,  Napoleon  was 
actuated  by  the  same  motives  as  at  Tilsit.  The 
Emperor  Alexander,  Napoleon's  ally  at  the  time, 
particularly  feared  the  success  of  that  ally,  since  he 
had  no  wish  to  see  Poland  under  the  House  of 
Saxony.  Finally  an  agreement  was  reached  by  the 
two  allies,  under  which  the  Duchy  attached  a  part 
of  Austrian  Poland.  The  Czar  was  compensated 
by  the  cession  to  him  of  the  Tarnopol  district. 
Napoleon  promising  that  he  would  keep  the  Duchy 
to  the  limits  described  at  the  time.  On  their  side, 
the  Poles  hoped  that  the  Eranco -Russian  Alliance 
would  prove  transient,  and  meanwhile  were  busily 
engaged  on  the  internal  organization.  Very  soon 
their  hopes  were  fulfilled  by  the  crisis  of  1812. 
Both  Alexander  and  Napoleon  made  handsome 
promises,  but  the  Poles  were  bound  by  treaty  and 
gratitude  to  Eranoe  ;  their  forces  joined  Napoleon's 
great  army,  and  suffered  defeat  with  it.  Austria 
and  Prussia,  the  two  other  allies  of  Napoleon  in 
this  adventure,  turned  round  and  joined  the  vic- 
torious Czar.  Again  offers  and  promises  were  made 
to  the  Poles,  but  for  them  treaties  were  not  mere 
scraps  of  paper,  and  they  stood  to  the  last  by 
Erance.  Perhaps  they  would  have  profited  more 
by  imitating  Austria  and  Prussia.  Be  that  as  it  may, 
they  honoured  their  bond. 

So,  having  linked  its  fate  with  Napoleon's,  the 
Duchy  of  Warsaw  was  at  the  disposal  of  the  Con- 
gress of  Vienna.  During  the  Congress  the  Polish 
Question    became    a    source    of    misunderstanding 


46     LANDMARKS    OF    POLISH     HISTORY 

between  Russia,  Prussia,  and  Austria.  A  European 
war  was  imminent,  but  the  return  of  Napoleon 
forced  the  Powers  to  settle  their  differences .  A 
settlement  was  reached  by  a  new  partition  of 
Poland.  From  a  part  of  the  Warsaw  Duchy  the 
Grand  Duchy  of  Posen  was  formed  and  given  to 
the  King  of  Prussia,  to  whom  also  the  free  city  of 
Dantzig  returned.  Cracow  and  a  small  strip  of 
territory  round  it  was  declared  a  free  Republic 
under  the  protection  of  Russia,  Austria,  and  Prussia. 
Austria  received  again  the  Kingdom  of  Galicia  and 
Lodomeria.  The  remainder  of  the  Duchy  consti- 
tuted the  Kingdom  of  Roland,  and  was  given  to  the 
Czar  of  Russia. 


VI 

THE    STRUGGLE    FOR    LIBERTY 

The  Congress  of  Vienna  laid  down  in  a  very  vague 
w^a}^  the  principle  that  all  parts  of  Poland  should 
receive  a  Constitution  compatible  with  a  normal 
national  development. 

In  order  to  comply  with  this  principle  the 
Emperor  of  Austria  established,  in  the  part  of 
Poland  which  came  under  his  rule,  a  sham  Parlia- 
ment, composed  entirely  of  the  clergy  and  the 
wealthiest  nobles.  This  body  had  no  legislative 
rights  ;  its  only  business  was  to  apportion  taxes  and 
write  petitions  asking  the  Sovereign  to  make  laws. 
Coincidently,  the  bureaucratic  system  in  existence 
before  the  loss  of  the  Polish  provinces  (1809)  was 
reinforced  ;  its  object  was  to  set  class  against  class 
and  so  weaken  national  unity. 

The  Prussian  Government,  as  usual,  made  no 
pretence  of  discharging  its  obligations  to  the  Con- 
gress. The  treaty  was  ignored  and  a  s^^stem  of 
bureaucratic  persecutions  begun  without  ceremony. 

The  Emperor  Alexander  alone  acted  in  accord- 
ance with  the  intentions  of  the  Congress,  and 
granted  a  fairly  liberal  Constitution.  The  King- 
dom of  Poland  was  definitely  bound  to  Russia  by 

47 


48     LANDMARKS    OF    POLISH     HISTORY 

the  fact  that  the  Czar  was  the  hereditary  ruler, 
but  nevertheless  it  had  its  own  Parliament  land 
Executive  and  a  separate  army  and  administration ; 
its  foreign  policy  alone  was  purely,  Russian.  The 
Russian  Government  and  military  caste  were  very, 
dissatisfied  with  Alexander's  liberalism  towards  a 
conquered  nation,  an  attitude  hardly  surprising 
when  it  is  considered  that  Russia  did  not  enjoy  the 
same  benefits.  Pressure  was  brought  to  bear  on 
the  Czar  by  his  Court,  and  eventually  this  influence 
told — partly,  no  doubt,  because  Alexander  mean- 
while discovered  that  it  was  difficult  for  the  auto- 
cratic Czar  of  Russia  to  submit  to  the  limitations 
of  a  constitutional  Kingship  in  Poland.  Like 
others  of  his  time,  he  found  that  liberal  principles 
were  one  thing,  liberal  practice  another.  Conse- 
quently a  systematic  infringement  of  the  Polish 
Constitution  was  permitted  at  the  hands  of  his 
brother,  the  Tsarevitch  Constantine,  the  Viceroy 
Prince  Zajonczek,  and  the  Imperial  Commissioner 
Novosiltzev.  Little  by  little  the  legalized  rights  of 
the  people  were  annulled.  Censorship  of  the  Press 
and  other  publications  began.  Secret  police  made 
many  arrests.  Parliament  was  not  convoked.  And 
all  these  reactionary  measures  were  increased  when; 
the  Emperor  Nicholas  I  succeeded  to  the  throne. 
The  Poles,  unable  to  retain  the  management  of 
State  affairs  by  constitutional  means,  took  to  arms. 
Revolution  broke  out  on  November  29,  1830.  Not 
feeling  strong  enough  to  sustain  the  Revolution 
alone,  the  Poles  sought  in  vain  for  foreign  help  ; 


LANDMARKS    OF    POLISH     HISTORY      49 

Austria,  not  satisfied  to  stand  aside  from  the  insur- 
rection, closed  her  frontiers  and  made  communica- 
tion with  tlie  West  difficult.  Prussia  entered  into 
treat}^  with  Russia,  promising  to  put  sixty,  thousand 
troops  at  her  disposal.  The  Revolution  collapsed, 
but  not  without  having  a  great  effect  elsewhere. 
Owing  to  the  Polish  rising  the  Czar  could  not  go 
to  stamp  out  the  Revolution  in  Belgium,  as  was 
his  intention.  It  may  therefore  be  said  that  Poland 
saved  Belgium  by  her  revolt. 

After  suppressing  the  Revolution,  the  Russian 
Government's  attitude  towards  Poland  hardened. 
The  Constitution  was  suspended,  the  national  Polish 
army  abolished,  and  the  administration  of  the 
country  subjected  to  the  central  authorities  at  St. 
Petersburg.  Also  State  lands  were  distributed 
amongst  officers  and  officials  in  order  to  russify 
the  country.  Many  Poles  were  sent  to  Siberia. 
The  Uniat  Church  was  abolished  and  its  followers 
forced  to  become  Orthodox.  The  Polish  Universi- 
ties at  Warsaw  and  Vilna  were  closed  and  schools 
reduced  in  number,  with  the  apparent  object  of 
minimizing  Western  influence. 

To  escape  these  conditions  many  Poles  emigrated 
to  France  and  England,  where  they  were  sympa- 
thetically received.  Sti]l,  the  whole  thought  of  the 
people  was  centred  in  a  single  idea :  the  recon- 
stitution  of  Poland.  Whatever  differences  of 
opinion  existed  on  social  problems  were  merged 
in  this  common  desire.  A  revolt  was  planned  and 
prepared  in  1846.     No  outbreak  took  place  in  the 


50     LANDMARKS    OF    POLISH     HISTORY 

Duchy  of  Posen,  because  there  the  organizers  were 
already  in  the  hands  of  Prussian  gaolers,  but 
Cracow  rose  and  Galicia  made  ready.  The  attempt, 
however,  ended  disastrously,  for  the  Galician 
peasants  were  used  by  the  Austrian  Government 
against  the  insurgents. 

During  the  previous  few  decades  the  system  of 
the  Austrian  Government  had  been  to   demoralize 
the  peasants  and  awaken  in  them  a  hatred  of  their 
landlords.     The  Austrian  law  maintained  the  right 
of  landlords  to  labour  dues,  forced  on  the  squires 
the  duty  of  apportioning  taxes,  and  made  the  latter 
select  recruits  for  the  ai'lny  and  act  as  rural  police. 
No  better  means  could  have  been  employed  to  sap 
the    popularity   of    the    landed    classes    among    the 
peasantry.      On   the   other   hand,   the   bureaucracy, 
took    the    peasants    under    their    care,    protecting 
them  whenever  they  were  prosecuted  by  the  land- 
lords for  theft,  and  so  forth.     The  ignorant  poor 
failed  to  realize  the  object  of  this  system.    To  them 
all  oppression  originated  with  landlords,  while  the 
bureaucracy    figured    as    defenders    of    the    weak. 
Hence,  when  the  revolt  against  Austrian  rule  began, 
nothing  was   easier  than  to   persuade  the   peasant 
that  a  victory  of  the  insurgents  would  leave  them 
at  the  mercy  of  landlordism.     Criminals  were  let 
loose  from  prisons  to  start  riots,  and  the  peasantry 
accepted  the   lead.      Many  nobles   were   massacred 
with  their  wives  and  children,  some  two  thousand 
persons  being  killed.     This  ended  the  rising.     The 
Revolutionary  authorities  fled  from  Cracow,  which 


LANDMARKS    OF    POLISH     HISTORY      51 

was  occupied  by  a  garrison  composed  of  Austrians, 
Prussians,  and  Russians.  In  all  parts  of  Poland 
the  gaols  were  filled  with  prisoners  suspected  of 
sympathizing  with  the  insurgents.  The  free  city 
of  Cracow,  instituted  at  the  Congress  of  Vienna, 
was  absorbed  by  Austria. 

The  severity  of  the  measures  directed  against 
the  Galician  rising  left  the  Poles  undaunted,  as  the 
wider  revolutionary  movements  of  1848  showed. 
The  Prussian  revolutionists  requested  the  Govern- 
ment to  grant  internal  autonomy  to  the  Duchy  of 
Posen,  and  having  apparently  obtained  for  them- 
selves a  liberal  Constitution,  clamoured  for  war 
with  Russia  as  a  means  of  extending  this  liberty. 
Frederick  William  solemnly  promised  to  fulfil  their 
wishes.  The  Poles  were  allowed  to  raise  their  own 
army  for  service  against  Russia,  and  at  once  set  to 
work.  But  as  soon  as  Berlin  was  in  hand  Frederick 
availed  himself  of  the  privilege,  always  claimed  by 
the  Prussian  Kings,  of  breaking  his  word.  He 
ordered  his  troops  to  fall  on  the  Polish  camps  and 
to  massacre  the  young  men  who  were  trained  there 
to  fight  in  his  name. 

The  revolution  in  Austria  followed  a  similar 
course,  so  far  as  the  Poles  were  concerned. 
Promises  were  lavishly  made,  reforms  initiated ; 
but  when  the  position  in  Vienna  became  secure 
Galicia  was  drowned  in  blood. 

In  this  way  all  Poland  suffered  severe  reprisals, 
under  which  the  nation  seemed  to  be  losing  its  iden- 
tity.    But  the  quiet  of  that  time  covered  a  ceaseless 


52     LANDMARKS    OF    POLISH    HISTORY 

activity.  Unobtrusive  development  took  the  place 
of  resistance  ;  science,  literature,  and  art  flourished  ; 
the  people,  unbroken,  were  preparing  to  assert 
again  their  right  to  nationaility.  It  was  not,  how- 
ever, until  Napoleon  III  introduced  the  principle 
of  racial  unity  into  European  politics  that  the  Poles 
found  an  opportunity.  An  armed  insurrection 
started  at  Warsaiw  in  1863.  The  hopes  of  the 
insurgents  centred  in  Napoleon,  who,  after  the 
victories  of  Magenta  and  Solferino,  wajs  regarded 
in  Poland  as  the  champion  of  the  oppressed.  But 
Napoleon  was  absorbed  in  home  affairs  and,  acting 
with  Great  Britain  and  Austria!,  limited  his  action 
to  the  presentation  of  pacific  notes  to  Russia.  The 
resulting  diplomatic  correspondence  dragged  on 
while  the  insurrection  was  being  stamped  out  by 
force.  A  period  of  civil  suppression  followed. 
What  remained  of  self-government  disappeared, 
the  Poles  lost  the  right  of  entering  the  Civil  Service, 
and  the  Russian  language  was  introduced  into  the 
schools  and  courts.  Everything  Polish  was  pro- 
hibited, the  very  name  of  the  country  being  changed 
to  ''  The  District  of  the  Vistula." 

The  Prussian  Government  took  similar  measures, 
and  enforced  them  with  German  ruthlessness.  In 
1886  a  Colonization  Commission  was  constituted 
in  Posen  to  push  the  purchase  and  settlement  of 
the  land  by  Germans.  A  hundred  million  marks 
were  made  over  to  the  Commission  by  the  Govern- 
ment for  this  purpose.  In  addition,  in  1894, 
Bismarck's    influence    led    to    the    formation    of    a 


LANDMARKS    OF    POLISH    HISTORY     53 

Society  for  the  Germanization  of  the  Duchy  of 
Posen.  Three  Prussians,  Hennemann,  Kennemann, 
and  Tiedemann,  organized  this  body,  which,  in 
keeping  with  their  initials,  was  called  the  Hakata. 
It  started  work  by  fomenting  German  national  feel- 
ing in  Prussia  and  Posen.  Not  content  with  the 
fact  that  the  Government  deprived  the  Poles  of 
the  right  to  enter  the  Civil  Service— even,  indeed, 
to  fill  such  a  post  as  that  of  porter  at  a  Government 
railway-station — the  Hakata  began  a  boycott  of 
Polish  merchants,  artisans,  doctors,  lawyers,  etc. 
Some  years  later  the  Prussian  Diet  voted  another 
hundred  million  marks  to  the  Colonization  Com- 
mission for  the  acquisition  of  land.  The  Poles 
were  forbidden  to  build  new  premises  of  any  kind 
without  a  special  permit.  Many  Polish  towns  and 
villages  received  German  names.  Children  in 
schools  were  punished  for  speaking  Polish.  The 
language  was  also  forbidden  at  public  meetings. 
Finally,  the  Prussian  Diet  passed  a  law  for  de- 
priving Poles  of  their  land  if  it  were  required  for 
German  immigrants. 

The  Poles  protested  through  their  representatives 
in  the  Prussian  Diet  and  the  Imperial  Parliament, 
but  could  make  no  headway ;  most  of  the  German 
representatives  replied  in  effect  with  Bismarck's 
war  cry,  **  Ausrotten." 

Under  Austrian  rule  the  Poles  fared  differently. 
The  defeat  of  1866  left  the  Austrian  bureaucracy 
bankrupt.  The  inefficiency  of  her  administration 
was  obvious,  and  the  oppressed  nationalities  of  the 


54     LANDMARKS    OF    POLISH     HISTORY 

Empire  regarded  the  central  Government  as  too 
weak  to  maintain  its  supremacy.  So-called 
Fundamental  Statutes  proclaimed  by  the  Emperor 
accorded  a  Constitution,  based  on  the  autonomy 
of  the  divers  countries  and  the  equality  of  all 
nationalities.  Galicia  received  a  separate  Diet, 
which  decided  matters  of  local  importance.  Polish 
became  the  official  language  of  the  country,  although 
in  Eastern  Galicia  Ruthenian  was  equally  recog- 
nized. The  usual  constitutional  liberties  were 
granted.  There  were  two  Polish  Universities,  in 
Cracow  and  Lemberg,  and  an  Academy  of  Science 
was  opened  in  the  former  city.  Primary  and 
secondary  education  was  entrusted  to  the  Polish 
authorities  and  Poles  were  admitted  to  all  Govern- 
ment appointments. 

Such  is,  in  brief,  the  history  of  the  rise  and  fall 
of  Poland.  Her  fate  is  ,  that  of  a  nation  who 
attempted  to  practise  democracy  while  the  rest  of 
Europe  was  largely  autocratic  in  Government  and 
had  not  entirely  thrown;  off  the  traditions  of 
feudalism.  Much  has  been  said  of  internal  dissen- 
sions which  shook  Poland  in:  her  free  days  ;  but 
is  it  not  a  fact  that  even  now  advances  in 
democracy  mean  internal  conflict?  The  democratic 
system  was  persisted  with  and  failed — because  con- 
tinejital  Europe  was  not  ripe  for  it.  And  so  it 
was  that  Poland  paid  very  dearly,  for  her  love  of 
internal  freedom.  Surely  it  is  a  stain  on  the 
world's  history  that  this  nation  and  its  plight  should 


LANDMARKS    OF    POLISH     HISTORY     55 

have  been  forgotten  for  the  best  part  of  a  century. 
But  Poland  sees  her  opportunity  at  last  and  knows 
that  what  is  made  of  it  depends  largely  on  those 
who  will  be  called  upon  to  settle  the  boundaries 
of  European  States  after  the  present  tremendous 
struggle.  Unfortunately,  she  is  hidden  away — sur- 
rounded by  great  States.  These  States  form  a 
barrier  across  which  her  voice  does  not  easily 
travel.  The  tragedy  of  war  waged  on  her  terri- 
tory has  again  brought  the  Polish  Question  to  the 
front.  The  Poles  hope  that  from  the  tumult  of 
the  world's  struggle  a  united  and  independent 
Poland  will  emerge. 


POLAND'S   STRUGGLE 
FOR     INDEPENDENCE 

BY 

RAJMUND  KUGHARSKI 

With  a  Foreword  by 
LORD    WEARDALE 


FOREWORD 

The  history  of  Poland,  during  the  last  two  centuries, 
forms  one  of  the  saddest  records  of  the  gradual 
disintegration,  subjection,  and  humiliation  of  a 
great  and  gifted  people.  The  first  half  of  that 
period  presents  but  a  long  chapter  of  foreign 
intrigue  and  continued  interference  with  the 
domestic  concerns  of  Poland  and  the  persistent 
aggression  of  jealous  and  powerful  neighbours, 
leading  up  to  the  flagitious  partitions  and  eventual 
complete  destruction  of  its  national  existence. 

The  work  of  Mr.  Rajmund  Kucharski,  upon 
which  I  do  not  propose  to  offer  either  comment  or 
criticism,  takes  up  the  story  at  a  point  when  hope 
of  emancipation  from  alien  domination  had  once 
more  vainly  revived  in  Polish  hearts. 

The  Emperor  Alexander  I,  during  that  short 
spasm  of  liberal  enthusiasm  with  which  he 
inaugurated  his  reign,  had  held  out  to  the  Poles 
the  promise  of  a  renewed  political  existence,  but 
too  soon,  alas  !  other  counsels  had  prevailed,  and 
again  the  curtain  descended  upon  all  those  fair 
anticipations  to  which  it  had  given  birth.  Recent 
events  have  brought  the  Polish  question  into  special 
prominence.     It  has  to-day  become  one  of  absorb- 

59 


60  FOREWORD 

ing  moment,  and  out  of  the  embers  of  the  present 
worldwide  conflagration  the  friends  of  freedom 
will  strive  for  that  of  Poland  to  be  at  length 
restored. 

It  is  a  strange  reflection  that  Germany,  who  had 
herself  for  centuries  suffered  from  internal  divisions, 
and  whose  unity  was  only  in  1870  finally  accom- 
plished, should  have  been  the  most  formidable 
obstacle  to  the  re-establishment  of  Polish  indepen- 
dence. It  was  a  dogma  of  Prince  Bismarck  that  its 
recognition  was  inconsistent  with  the  safety  of  the 
German  Empire,  and  in  the  polemical  discussion  now 
going  on  in  the  Teutonic  Press  there  is  apparently 
a  general  agreement  with  this  conclusion.  In  none 
of  the  various  proposals  for  the  settlement  of  the 
Polish  question  does  German  public  opinion  con- 
cede to  twenty  millions  of  Poles  those  national 
and  racial  rights  which  they  contend  for  with 
undeniable  justice  for  themselves. 

And  yet  how  strong  everywhere  has  proved  the 
spirit  of  race  and  nationality  !  Centuries  of  oppres- 
sion in  all  countries  and  in  every  clime  have  ever 
failed  to  destroy  it.  The  German  people  are 
themselves  a  striking  illustration  of  its  overpower- 
ing force,  while  Hungary  is  a  vivid  illustration  of 
its  undying  potency.  But  Poland  in  the  eyes  of 
these  blind  and  wrangling  disputants  is  to  be  ruled 
altogether  outside  the  scope  of  its  operation.  In 
the  multitude  of  schemes  which  have  been  pro- 
mulgated in  German  lands  every  variety  of  annexa- 
tion, redivision,  and  alien  form  of  government  is 


FOREWORD  61 

suggested  ;  but  nowhere  is  the  claim  of  freedom 
or  the  independence  of  Poland  set  forth  by  these 
apostles  of  the  new  Kultur  and  the  regeneration; 
of  the  world. 

The  Polish  race  has  many  gifts,  but  perhaps  its 
enduring  faith  is  its  most  remarkable  characteristic. 
No  oppression  kills  it  at  home,  whatever  the 
weapons  or  the  arts  of  the  oppressor,  while  absence 
from  the  Fatherland  has  not  dimmed  its  courage 
in  the  great  Polish  settlements  in  the  United  States 
of  America  or  elsewhere.  It  may  be  that  its  long 
record  of  sorrows  will  have  brought  home  to 
Polish  minds  in  all  these  years  of  tribulation  and 
exile  some  salutary  warnings  ;  for  it  is  unques- 
tionable that  many  of  their  misfortunes  in  the  past 
were  due  to,  the  cleavage  which  too  long  existed 
between  the  Poles  themselves  and  in  the  unhappy 
feud  between  the  owners  and  the  tillers  of  the 
soil,  which  was  the  certain  parent  of  internal 
strife  and  the  specious  excuse  for  repeated  inter- 
vention. It  is  also  true  that  conditions  in  Poland 
have  been  greatly  changed  by  recent  developments, 
and  the  enormous  growth  of  the  industrial  towns 
and  districts  has  perhaps  accentuated  these  tradi- 
tional difficulties  and  given  greater  prominence  to 
the  demands  of  the  proletariat.  But  the  recon- 
stitution  of  Poland,  if  it  is  to  be  successfully 
attained,  must  be  based  upon  a  frank  acceptance 
of  democratic  ideals  and  the  cordial  co-operation 
of  all  classes  in  the  re-establishment  of  their 
national  life.     Without  complete  unity  of  purpose 


62  FOREWORD 

the  prospect  of  Poland's  emancipation  will  be 
small  indeed,  and  in  this  supreme  moment  one 
thought  should  dominate  every  other :  the  call  of 
patriotism  to  every  Pole  to  merge  all  differences 
of  opinion  in  the  concerted  effort  to  secure  the 
liberation  of  his  country  and  the  restoration  of 
his  existence  as  a  nation. 

The  Polish  Information  Committee  have  em- 
barked upon  a  most  meritorious  campaign  of 
popular  enlightenment ;  and  I  venture  to  affirm 
that  the  more  the  history  of  their  country  is  studied 
and  reflected  upon  the  stronger  will  be  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  only  final  solution  is  to  be  found 
in  the  recognition  of  the  rights  and  aspirations 
of  Poland,  and  that  the  great  empires  in  the 
midst  of  which  it  is  fated  to  remain  geographically 
embedded  will  sooner  or  later  end  by  admitting 
that  in  the  freedom  of  Poland  will  reside  their 
own  surest  safeguard. 

WEAEDALE. 
May  5,  1916. 


POLAND'S  STRUGGLE  FOR 
INDEPENDENCE 


The  Poles  will  never  allow  themselves  to  be  engulfed  by 
the  foreigner  so  long  as  their  memory  remains  faithful  to 
liberty  and  they  accept  the  word  in  its  widest  sense  ;  so  long 
as  they  continue  to  seek  knowledge  and,  by  renouncing 
frivolities  and  trifles,  hold  themselves  in  readiness  for  any 
eventuality.  They  will  not  find  their  salvation  in  idle  boasts 
and  thoughtless  enthusiasms,  nor  in  the  hope  that  some  one 
will  come  to  their  aid. — HUGO  KOLLONTAY. 

*VThe  second  partition  of  Poland,"  says  Albert 
Sorel,  "was  contemporaneous  with  the  first  coali- 
tion formed  against  France  ;  indeed,  it  was  almost 
its  necessary  condition.  The  compact  then  concluded 
between  the  Allies  had  as  a  secret  corollary  a  plan 
for  the  partition  of  France  to  their  profit."  Happily 
this  proved  no  more  than  an  evil  dream.  Poland 
alone  became  the  victim.  Poland  alone  was  des- 
poiled, torn  asunder,  thrust  from  her  place  among 
the  nations  of  Europe.  Yet  her  soul  survived,  and, 
ever  seeking  the  fulfilment  of  her  aspirations, 
found  a  fresh  outlet  for  the  enthusiasm  of  her  sons. 
Secretly  escaping  by  way  of  the  open  frontiers  on 
the  west,  they  enrolled  themselves  as  volunteers 
under  the  leadership  of  Dombrowski.  Fighting  for 
the  glory  of  the  French  Republic,  they  dreamed 
that  out  of  the  agonies  of  the  battlefields  of  Italy 

63 


64  POLAND'S     STRUGGLE 

and  Germany  would  be  brought  fortli  anew  the 
Kingdom  of  Poland.  The  star  of  France  and  of 
Napoleon  Was  to  guide  them  to  their  promised  land. 
Vain  dreams  !  Napoleon,  engaged  in  a  war 
against  Prussia  and  Austria,  conceived  the  idea  of 
stirring  up  to  revolt  the  newly  made  subjects  of 
these  Powers.  Under  his  orders  Dombrowski  and 
Wybicki  published  a  proclamation  addressed  to  the 
Poles,  while  he  himself  travelled  through  Posen 
and  entered  Warsaw,  where  the  French  troops  were 
received  with  enthusiasm.  When,  however,  the 
Treaty  of  Tilsit  came  to  be  signed,  the  name  of 
Poland  was  not  even  mientioned.  Napoleon  believed 
he  had  need  of  Alexander  to  make  the  success  of 
his  schemes  certain  and  feared  to  disclose  plans 
of  so  opposite  a  nature  to  one  of  the  beneficiaries 
in  the  partition.  Yet  he  felt  he  owed  some  sort 
of  compensation  to  the  deluded  Poles,  and  founded 
for  them  a  little  State— the  Duchy  of  Warsaw. 
They  could  but  accept  this  as  an  earnest  of  their 
great  desire.  What  could  their  State  do  but  give 
all  that  was  asked  of  her — recruits,  and  still  more 
recruits?  Her  army  was  at  first  limited  to  30,000 
men,  but  the  figure  was  doubled  ;  and  later  still, 
taxing  her  strength  to  the  utmost  to  support  this 
heavy  burden,  she  gave,  in  January,  1812,  65,000 
men ;  in  November  97,000.  Joseph  Poniatowski 
linked  his  fate  with  that  of  the  Emperor,  becoming 
a  national  hero  and  the  idol  of  the  Polish  soldiers. 
He  perished  with  the  remnant  of  the  Polish  army 
in  the  battle  of  Leipsic— the  last  of  Poland's  knights. 


FOR     INDEPENDENCE  65 

The  Duchy  received  from  Napoleon  a  Constitu- 
tion modelled  on  that  of  France  and  the  Napoleonic 
Code.  De  Montallivet  in  his  "  Expose  de  la  situa- 
tion de  I'Empire,"  on  December  1,  1809,  said : 
*'  It  would  have  been  easy  for  the  Emperor  to 
unite  the  whole  of  Galicia  to,  the  Duchy  of  Warsaw. 
He  did  not  wish  to  dq  anything,  however,  to  arouse 
fears  in  the  mind  of  his  Ally,  the  Emperor  of 
Russia.  .  .  .  His  Majesty  had  never  contemplated 
the  re -establishment  of  the  Kingdom  of  Poland." 
On  October  20,  1809,  M.  de  Champagny,  the  Minister 
for  Foreign  Affairs,  wrote  in  an  official  note : 
*'  The  Emperor  not  only  wishes  to  do,  nothing  which 
will  encourage  the  Idea  of  the  rebirth  of  Poland, 
but  he  is  disposed  to  join  with  the  Emperor 
Alexander  in  doing  everything  tending  to  efface  her 
memory  from  the  hearts  of  her  aforetime  subjects. 
His  Majesty  wishes  that  the  names  *  Poland '  and 
*  Pole '  should  disappear,  not  only  from  all  political 
transactions,  but  also  from  the  pages  of  history." 

Kosciuszko,  the  great  hero  of  1794,  never  had 
any  confidence  in  the  promises  made  in  Berlin  in 
1806.  He  remained  quiescent  during  the  whole 
time  the  Duchy  was  in  existence,  hoping,  longing, 
watching  for  the  ray,  of  light  which  would  soon,  he 
believed,  regild  the  ancient  shield  of  national  inde- 
pendence. He  went  to  the  Congress  of  Vienna ; 
he  exhorted  Alexander  ;  he  reminded  him  of  his 
promises — and  death  spared  him  tlie  bitter  know- 
ledge  of  blasted   hopes. 

On    February    18,    1813,    the    Russians    entered 


66  POLAND'S     STRUGGLE 

Warsaw  in  pursuit  of  the  Frencli  army,  and  those 
who  had  based  their  hopes  on  Alexander  felt  that 
here  was  their  opportunity.  Prince  Gzartoryski, 
friend  and  minister  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia, 
reopened  the  negotiations  first  set  on  foot  in  1806, 
to  receive  once  more  the  assurance  that  the  Tsar 
had  not  abandoned  his  favourite  scheme  for  the 
restoration  of  Poland.  Replying  to  a  letter  of 
Kosciuszko,  he  said  to  that  veteran  :  *'  I  hope  to 
bring  about  the  regeneration  of  your  brave  nation. 
.  .  .  To  that  end  I  have  taken  a  solemn  oath.  .  .  . 
Very  soon  the  Poles  will  recover  their  fatherland 
and  their  name."  After  reviewing  the  remnant  of 
the  Polish  army  on  the  plain  of  St.  Denis,  he  said 
to  the  Polish  officers :  *'  Sirs,  we  have  learnt  to 
admire  you  on  the  field  of  battle.  That  hostility 
which  has  too  long  endured  between  the  two  nations 
should  sunder  them  no  longer.  I  love  and  esteem 
your  country  :  you  do  well  to  recall  her  children 
to  her  from  among  the  nations.  You  deserve  to 
be  happy.  To  attain  that  end  I  will  employ  all  the 
power  that  God  has  given  me." 

In  December  1814  the  Grand  Duke  Constantin 
issued  a  proclamation  to  the  Polish  troops  :  *'  His 
Majesty,  the  Emperor  Alexander,  calls  you  !  Arm 
yourselves  to  defend  your  fatherland  and  to 
maintain  your  political  existence  !  " 

Frederic  Gentz,  one  of  the  principal  actors  in 
that  Vanity  Fair,  the  Congress  of  Vienna,  said : 
*' Those  who,  at  the  time  of  the  Congress,  were 
able  to  recognize  the  precise  nature  of  its  objects 


FOR     INDEPENDENCE  67 

could  have  no  illusions  as  to  its  result.  The  recon- 
struction of  the  social  order,  the  regeneration  of 
the  political  system  of  Europe,  the  establishment 
of  a  just  and  abiding  peace— high-flown  phrases 
such  as  these  were  declaimed  to  satisfy  the  people's 
ears,  to  give  dignity  and  grandeur  to  this  solemn 
assembly.  The  real  result  of  the  Congress,  how- 
ever, was  the  distribution  of  the  spoils  among  the 
conquerors." 

The  question  of  Poland  was  discussed  among 
others.  Much  was  said.  Poland  had  been  seized — 
the  whole  world  wished  to  see  her  free.  But 
Hardenberg  (Prussia)  asked  for  a  part  of  the 
Duchy  on  behalf  of  his  master.  Nesselrode,  in  his 
turn,  claimed  the  whole  of  it  for  Russia.  Metter- 
nich  declared  that  the  Duchy  had  not  been 
conquered  by  the  Russians  alone  ;  that  the  Austrian 
armies  had  assisted  in  the  struggle ;  that  they 
could  not  concede  the  right  to  Russia  to  indemnify 
herself  thus,  especially  in  the  face  of  the  Tsar's 
declaration  that  it  should  not  be  treated  as  a  con- 
quered country.  He  asser!ted  that  he  could  not 
give  up  the  provinces  which  had  formed  a  part  of 
Austria,  and  that  in  any  case  the  revival  of  the  name 
of  Poland  would  be  a  peril  in  itself  and  a  direct 
contravention  of  all  the  treaties.  Hardenberg 
vociferated  that  Prussia  certainly  would  not  consent 
to  the  restoration  of  Poland.  Castlereagh,  on  the 
other  hand,  said  that  the  restoration  of  the  country 
would  meet  with  the  approval  of  the  English 
Parliament,  but  only  on  condition  of  its  complete 


68  POLAND'S     STRUGGLE 

independence.  A  Poland  curbed  and  subordinated 
to  Russia,  a  vassal  State,  could  not  be  tolerated. 

In  a  celebrated  conversation  between  Alexander 
and  Talleyrand,  there  was  some  intieresting  word 
play  between  the  two  accomplished  diplomatists. 
"At  Paris,"  began  the  Tsar,  "you  believe  in  a 
Kingdom  of  Poland.  Howl  is  it  that  you  have 
changed  your  mind?"  *' My  mind,  sire,"  replied 
Talleyrand,  *'  is  still  the  same.  At  Paris  we  only 
thought  of  the  restoration  of  the  whole  of  Poland. 
I  believed  then,  as  I  believe  now,  in  her  independence 
— but  to-day  you  speak  of  quite  a  different  question. 
.  .  ."  Then  Alexander  made  answer :  "I  have  two 
hundred  thousand  men  in  the  Duchy  of  Warsaw. 
Would  you  take  them  away  from  me?  I  have 
nothing  to  do  with  your  international  law.  I  don't 
know  what  it  means.  What  do  you  think  I  care  for 
all  your  parchments  and  all  your  treaties?  "^ 

Once  again  the  result  for  Poland  was  a  partition. 
Austria  took  districts  of  Eastern  Galicia,  ceded  to 
the  Grand  Duchy  of  Warsaw  in  1809  and  ,1810, 
giving  up  Western  Galicia,  which  she  had  possessed 
from  1795  to  1809.  Prussia  gave  up  that  part  of 
Poland  constituted  as  the  Duchy  of  Warsaw  in 
1807,  except  those  territories  known  hencefortli 
under  the  name  of  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Posen. 
Prussia  and  Austria  recognized  the  Constitution  of 
the  Kingdom  of  Poland,  having  a  distinct  adminis- 
tration, but  owning  the  Emperor  of  Russia  as 
Sovereign.     Cracow  became   a  free  neutral  town. 

^  "Memoh'es  de  Talleyrand"  (Broglie  edition),  vol.  ii. 
p.  392-3. 


FOR     INDEPENDENCE  69 

Thus  the  new;  State  of  Poland  was  foinned,  under 
the  title  of  the  Kingdom  of  the  Congress.  It 
consisted  of  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Warsaw,  reft  of 
its  provinces  of  Posen  and  Gniezno  ;  of  the  Gali- 
cian  territories  ;  of  the  town  of  Cracow  and  its 
environs— in  short,  it  was  a  Poland  shorn  of  two 
and  a  half  millions  of  Poles  1 

The  related  clauses  contained  in  the  Treaty 
of  Vienna  are  very  interesting.  They  provided  for 
a  free  Constitution,  a  distinct  administration,  and  an 
"  interior  extension  "—a  phrase  which  has  been 
taken  to  mean  the  expansion  of  the  autonomy  of 
Poland  over  the  Lithuanian  provinces  ;  among  the 
Poles  it  roused  a  feeling  of  gratitude  so  general  and 
deep  that  the  veteran  Kosciuszko  wrote  to  the 
Emperor  dedicating  the  rest  of  his  life  to  his  service. 
On  November  27th  Alexander  signed  the  new 
Constitution  at  Warsaw.  Liberty  seemed  its  key- 
note. Liberty  of  the  press,  liberty  for  the  individual, 
liberties  of  all  kinds  were  promised.  All  the  Acts 
passed  Were  to  be  in  Polish  ;  all  the  officials  were 
to  be  Poles  ;  so,  too,  should  be  the  Council  of 
State,  composed  of  all  the  ministers,  assisted  by 
an  Imperial  Commissioner,  Novossiltzoff.  The  com- 
mand of  the  troops  was  to  be  entrusted  to  the 
Grand  Duke  Constantin. 

This  man,  one  of  the  two  Russians  directly 
concerned  in  the  administration  of  the  country, 
was  moved  by  violent  impulses,  unreasoning  and 
brutal,  often  seemingly  mad  ;  but  at  the  same  time 
he  was  capable  of  noble  sentiments  and  national 


70  POLAND'S     STRUGGLE 

ideas.  He  hated  the  country,  its  inhabitants,  and, 
above  all,  its  Constitution.  Yet,  running  counter 
to  all  the  prejudices  of  such  a  nature  as  his,  even 
against  his  will,  irresistible  attractions  drew  him 
to  civilized  Poland  and  its  womenkind.  He  was 
scarcely  installed  at  Warsaw  when  Gzartoryski 
wrote  to  the  Emperor :  *'  He  heaps  ridicule  on  all 
law  and  order.  ...  He  even  wishes  to  rule  the 
army  by  the  might  of  his  arm."  Before  long  the 
soldiers  began  to  desert ;  many  officers  resigned 
or  committed  suicide.  But  the  gloomy  Novossiltzoff, 
the  old  friend  of  Alexander,  was  there  to  watch 
over  the  kingdom,  and  once  more  the  idea  of 
a  Poland  reunited  to  Russia  came  into  existence 
when  he  began  to  organize  at  Warsaw  a  secret 
service  police,  and  covered  Poland  and  Lithuania 
with  a  netjwork  of  spies.  The  cost  of  this  police 
service   reached   500,000   Polish   florins   yearly. 

The  Poles  now  demanded  that  the  Constitution 
to  which  they  had  sworn  allegiance  should  be 
faithfully  carried  out  into  practice.  Deceived  in 
its  legitimate  hopes,  the  nation  defended  itself  by 
the  creation  of  secret  societies.  These  societies  were 
so  little  revolutionary  that  they  included  in  their 
membership  many  soldiers  of  high  rank,  such  as 
Lieutenant-Colonels  Krzyzanovski  and  Pradzynski 
and  Major  Walerian  Lukasinski.  At  Vilna  there 
flourished  a  society  called  the  "  Philaretes,"  which 
numbered  among  its  members  the  future  national 
poet  Adam  Mickiewicz. 

One  of  the  most  noble  characters  of  this  time, 


FOR     INDEPENDENCE  71 

Lukasinski,  a  hero  of  Plutarch,  represents  the  very 
incarnation  of  Poland's  soul.  Thrown  into  the 
dungeons  of  Warsaw  by  Novossiltzoff  after  the  flight 
of  Constantin,  he  was  a  little  later  chained  to  a 
cannon  and  dragged  through  the  plains  of  Russia, 
only  to  be  thrust  into  the  dark  cave  of  Schlissel- 
hurg ;  there  he  suffered  for  thirty -eight  long  years, 
losing  sight  and  hearing,  and  there  he  died. 

At  the  opening  of  the  first  Diet  of  the  kingdom 
in  1818,  Alexander,  speaking  in  French,  said  :  *'  You 
have  given  me  the  opportunity  of  showing  to 
my  country  what  I  have  long  been  preparing  for 
her.  .  .  ."  This  was  regarded  as  the  forecast  of 
a  Constitution  for  the  Russian  Empire,  but  the 
hope  was  built  on  sand. 

Soon  the  atmosphere  of  the  Diet  became  insup- 
portable. Supporters  of  the  Constitution  were 
subjected  to  persecution.  Alexander,  speaking 
through  his  minis,ter,  made  it  known  that,  as  the 
author  of  the  Constitution,  he  alone  could  interpret 
it ;  and  having  made  his  attitude  on  this  point 
clear,  he  did  not  again  convene  tlie  Diet.  In  1825 
its  proceedings  were  secret,  except  for  the  opening 
and  closing  sittings.  Then  the  brothers  Niemo- 
jowski,  the  principal  constitutionalists  of  the 
kingdom,  were  ai^rested  and  their  election  quashed, 
the  right  of  electing  deputies  for  the  palatinate  of 
Kalisz  was  suppressed,  and  the  work  of  the  Diet 
became  the  business  of  the  ministers  alone. 

After  the  death  of  Alexander  a  revolution  under 
the    cegis    of    the     "  Decembrists  "    broke    out    in 


72  POLAND'S     STRUGGLE 

Petersburg.  The  new  Emperor,  Nicolas,  instituted 
a  Commission  of  Inquiry,  and  it  was  discovered 
that  the  National  Patriotic  Society  had  been  for 
a  short  time  in  correspondence  with  visionaries 
among  the  Russian  nobles.  Still,  Novossiltzoff's 
efforts  were  not  very  productive,  since  only  eight 
persons  appeared  before  the  High  Court ;  and  even 
they  were  acquitted  after  long  detention,  except 
one  condemned  to  criminal  punishment  for  his 
refusal  to  reveal  the  Russian  plot.  Nicolas 
"  promised  and  swore  before  God  "  to  observe  the 
Act  of  Constitution. 

But  after  the  death  of  the  viceroy  Zajaczek  in 
1826,  against  the  letter  of  the  Constitution  he  com- 
bined, in  the  person  of  his  brother-in-law  Conistantin, 
the  two  offices  of  Lieutenant  of  the  Kingdom  and 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army.  Constantin  had 
no  use  for  the  Diet.  *'  The  tongues  will  begin  to 
wag  again,'*  he  said.    "  They  shall  be  cut." 

The  Diet  was  summoned  for  May  20,  1830. 
Nicolas,  who,  like  his  predecessor,  disliked  the 
Napoleonic  Code,  looking  on  the  conqueror  himself 
as  the  Satanic  offspring  of  the  French  Revolution, 
opened  it  in  person,  blit  found  the  deputies  opposed 
to  his  schemes  for  its  alteration.  A  breath  of  revo- 
lutionary patriotism  passed  through  the  country, 
uniting  Vilna  and  Warsaw  and  extending  even  to 
Kalisz,  where  Wincenty  Niemojowski,  the  constitu- 
tionalist, meditated  in  a  dungeon  upon  the  articles 
granted  by  the  Emperor  of  Russia  to  the  Kingdom' 
of  Poland— articles  countersigned  by  the  Powers  at 


FOR     INDEPENDENCE  73 

the  Congress  of  Vienna.  Every  class  of  society 
acclaimed  the  wonderful  poem  of  Adam  Mickie- 
wicz,  *'  Konrad  Wallenrod."  This  mighty  song 
made  the  heai-^ts  of  the  people  beat  as  one : 
especially  did  it  strike  a  responsive  chord  in  the 
soul  of  youth.  In  every  breath  the  cry  of  Alfieri 
vibrated  :  *'  Siamo  Schiavi  ma  schiavi  sempre  fre- 
menti "  (''  We  are  slaves  quivering  under  our 
yoke").  At  that  mioment  the  revolution  of  1830 
broke  out  in  Paris,  the  whole  world  looking  on 
with  breathless  interest.  The  people  who  had  been 
subdued  by  the  Treaty  of  -Vienna  trembled.  The 
sight  of  the  tricolour  floating  over  the  French 
Consulate  in  Warsaw  made  the  heart  of  every  Pole 
beat  high  With  hope— hope  mingled  with  indigna- 
tion. Nicolas  I,  strong  in  the  principle  of  legiti- 
macy, that  rock  on  Which  was  built  the  fortress 
of  the  Holy  Alliance,  and  burning  with  a  desire 
to  strike  at  the  heart  of  the  Revolution— following 
the  traditions  of  his  grandmother  Catherine,  made 
energetic  preparations  for  war.  He  ordered  that 
the  army  of  Poland  shoiuld  hold  itself  in  readiness 
to  march,  the  van -guard  against  the  French 
Republic.  On  January  15, 1831,  Lafayette,  speaking 
in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  said :  "  Gentlemen, 
war  was  prepared  against  us.  Poland  was  to  form 
the  advance  guard  :  the  advance  guard  has  turned 
against  the  army  corps.  Is  any  one  astonished  that 
this  advance  guard  should  excite  our  loyalty,  our 
gratitude,  our  sympathy?" 

The     revolution     broke    out    on    the     29th    of 


74  POLANDS     STRUGGLE 

November.  It  was  demanded  of  Nicolas  that  he 
should  observe  the  Constitution,  but  his  reply  made 
it  clear  that  he  placed  under  the  ban  of  disgracq 
those  subjects  Avho  dared  to  propose  conditions  to 
their  legitimate  sovereign.  He  himself  made  certain 
the  support  of  Prussia  and  Austria.  The  die  was 
cast — and  the  fortunes  of  war  were  against  the 
revolutionaries.  England  did  not  wish  to  embroil 
herself  with  Russia  ;  opinion  in  France  was  divided. 
Casimir  Perier  came  into  power  on  March  15,  1831, 
and  Nicolas,  who  had  reverted  to  his  old  prejudices 
against  the  monarchy,  made  it  known  that  he  would 
graciously  receive  Monsieur  de  Mortemart  as 
Ambassador  at  Petersburg. 

After  a  war  lasting  nine  months  the  Polish  forces 
were  dispersed,  and  on  September  8th  the  Russians 
occupied  Warsaw.  Paskiewicz,  the  Russian  general, 
writing  to  the  Tsar,  said :  "  Sire,  Warsaw  is  at  our 
feet."  This  message,  so  sorrow-laden  for  Polish 
hearts,  sent  from  the  desolate  banks  of  the  Vistula, 
found  a  mournful  echo  on  the  banks  of  the  Seine, 
in  the  stern  words  of  the  minister  Sebastiani  : 
"  Order  reigns   in   Warsaw." 

The  insurrection  of  1830-31  was  crushed,  and 
the  Polish  troops  left  the  kingdom,  to  be  disarmed 
in  Prussian  or  Austrian  territory  ;  and  the  capitula- 
tion of  Warsaw  was  followed  a  month  later  by 
the  surrender  of  the  fortresses  of  Modlin  and 
Zamosc.  The  Russian  Government  issued  an 
amnesty,  which  granted  pardon  to  the  Polish  com- 
batants, but  as  soon  as  they  began  to  return  to  their 


FOR     INDEPENDENCE  75 

country  there  was  a  movement  to  incorporate  them 
in  Russian  regiments.  "Those  who  were  part  of 
the  command,"  wrote  Nicolas  I  to  his  lieutenant, 
General  Paskiewicz,  "  will  be  sent  to  Yaroslave.  As 
to  the  canaille^  dispatch  them  to  Vologda."  Accord- 
ingly the  ordinary  soldiers  were  sent  to  the  distant 
provinces  of  the  East,  to  the  Caucasus,  among  the 
Tartars,  towards  the  Chinese  frontier.  The  High 
Court  condemned  to  death,  on  their  non-appearance, 
258  persons,  refugees  in  France,  Germany,  and  Eng- 
land ;  but  this  sentence  was  afterwards  commuted, 
in  1834,  to  exile  for  life.  The  Tsar  always  paid 
more  attention  to  the  future  than  to  the  past,  to 
means  of  prevention  rather  than  of  chastisement,  and 
this  was  evidenced  by  the  stern  measures  which  now 
followed.  The  Constitution  was  suppressed  ;  one- 
tenth  of  the  property  of  the  Polish  landowners  was 
confiscated  ;  a  state  of  war  was  declared,  which 
lasted  for  twenty-two  years  ;  the  Universities  of 
Yilna  and  Warsaw  and  the  Scientific  Society  of  the 
latter  city  were  closed,  the  same  decree  affecting 
the  College  of  Krzemieniec  ;  the  libraries  were  sent 
to  Russia  to  be  distributed  among  the  provincial 
universities  ;  the  number  of  schools  in  Warsaw 
dwindled  between  1830  and  1847  to  twenty -three, 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  population  numbered 
over  twenty  thousand  ;  the  reading  of  the  works 
of  such  authors  as  Mickiewicz,  Slowacki,  Krasinski, 
and  Lelewel  was  strictly  proscribed — it  was  for- 
bidden even  to  mention  their  names  in  public.  This 
state  of  affairs   existed   for  nearly  seventy  years ^ 


76  POLAND'S     STRUGGLE 

Even  as  late  as  1905  the  theatre  of  Warsaw  pro- 
duced "  Mazepa,"  the  beautiful  tragedy  of  Slowacki, 
as  the  work  of  an  unknown  "J.  S."  In  1900 
authority  had  not  been  gained  for  the  publication 
of  the  biography  of  the  great  national  historian 
Lelewel. 

The  Government  ordered  the  state  of  the  lesser 
nobility  to  be  reduced  to  that  of  peasants,  and  they 
themselves  deported  into  the  Caucasus.  The  exe- 
cution of  this  order  was  begun  with  five  thousand 
families  from  Podolia,  but  the  Tsar  soon  extended 
it  to  forty  thousand  others  from  the  north  and  so:uth- 
west.  Still,  in  the  midst  of  repression,  of  suffer- 
ing, of  trials  innumerable,  the  spirit  of  Poland 
remained  undaunted.  Beaten  down,  the  fire  of 
freedom  still  glowed.  Thousands  of  Poles  had  emi- 
grated :  they  drifted  towards  France  and  England. 
Officers,  soldiers,  Government  officials,  members  of 
the  Diet,  aristocrats,  people  of  the  upper  ;and  middle 
classes  and  peasants — there,  in  the  land  of  France, 
was  a  Polish  nation  in  miniature.  This  pilgrimage 
through  Europe  was  no  mournful  journey  to  the 
grave,  but  a  triumphal  march,  for  these  enthusiastic 
spirits,  among  whom  was  found  the  greatest  poet 
w'ho  has  ever  adorned  the  pages  of  Polish  literature, 
drew  the  sympathies  of  the  noblest  intellects  of 
the  age.  Lafayette,  Montalembert,  and  many  others 
in  France  gave  them  their  protection.  The  greater 
the  misery  in  their  own  country  grew,  the  sadder 
life  became  in  reality,  the  purer  became  the  source 
of  their  inspiration.     Not  only  painters  and  poets, 


FOR    INDEPENDENCE  77 

but  men  of  action  felt  this  uplifting  influence.  The 
old  Poland  was  no  more  than  a  burying-gi'ound : 
they  were  now  reconstructing  a  new  Poland,  a 
fortress  impregnable,  a  city  of  God.  They  had 
kindled  a  new  enthusiasm  in  the  life  of  the  soul, 
a  spirit  of  sacrifice  and  abnegation,  and  in  its  sacred 
flame  they  would  remould  their  poetical  inspira- 
tion, and  with  its  aid  mount  nearer  to  the  lofty  peaks 
of  immortal  beauty.  Their  works  were  the  heavenly 
manna,  the  spiritual  food  of  whole  generations. 
Documents  are  in  existence  which  describe  the  way 
in  which  the  Poles  deported  to  Siberia  welcomed 
the  poems  of  the  great  national  poet,  Adam 
Mickiewicz.  His  "Master  Thaddeus"  became  a  very 
fount  of  life.  "  Improvization "  was  the  uade 
mecum  of  youth.  It  was  circulated  throughout  the 
country  in  the  face  of  the  gravest  dangers  ;  it  was 
carried  as  a  sacred  relic  ;  it  was  copied  and  re- 
copied  thousands  of  times.  Whole  generations  knew 
it  by  heart ;  it  became  part  of  their  blood,  and  pulsed 
like  a  living  wave  through  the  life  of  the  nation. 

In  this  miniature  Poland,  a  political  life,  in  which 
every  class  and  opinion  were  represented,  became 
very  active,  and  separate  parties  emerged.  The 
aristocracy  grouped  themselves  round  Prince  Czar- 
toryski,  the  democracy  round  the  historian  Lelewel. 
Contrary  to  the  policy  of  the  Prince,  who  en- 
deavoured to  reach  the  Government,  Lelewel  sought 
to  solve  the  Polish  question  by  a  direct  appeal  to 
the  people.  Prince  Czartoryski  conferred  in  Paris 
with    the    representatiyes    of    the    Powers,    while 


78  POLAND'S     STRUGGLE 

Lelewel  sent  forth  appeals  to  the  Italians,  to  the 
Hungarians,  to  the  Spaniards.  Their  efforts  were 
rewarded  with  no  success.  In  1832  the  Democratic 
Society  was  founded,  which  proclaimed  that  the 
salvation  of  Poland  would  not  be  achieved  by  an 
insurrection  alone,  but  that  side  by  side  with  it 
must  run  a  social  revolution.  At  the  very  outset 
this  society  was  in  radical  opposition  to  the  aris- 
tocracy, on  whom  the  democrats  cast  the  whole 
responsibility  for  the  partition.  The  freedom  of  the 
country  could  come  solely  from  the  people  ;  the 
revolution  of  1830  had  failed  because  the  rural 
population  had  participated  only  to  a  minor  extent 
— so  they  said  in  effect,  and  found  themselves  in 
agreement  with  the  French  democrats  of  the  day. 
Indeed,  the  Poles  took  an  active  part  in  all  the 
democratic  and  socialistic  organizations  in  France. 
The  teaching  of  Enfantin,  Cabet,  and  Fourier  found 
ready  acceptance  on  the  part  of  this  historic  people, 
who,  ever  thirsting  after  liberty,  had  sworn  to  find 
the  means  of  attaining  it.  Lifting  their  eyes  from 
reality,  from  the  things  about  them,  only  so  far  as 
to  make  an  appeal  to  the  principles  of  justice  and 
equality,  those  fighting  in  the  cause  of  Poland  drew 
nearer  to  the  star-like  course  they  had  envisioned 
for  humanity. 

Yielding  to  the  pressure  exercised  by  the  repre- 
sentative of  Russia,  the  French  Government  dis- 
persed the  emigrants  throughout  the  country.  In 
the  cemeteries  of  the  centre  and  south  are  many 
Polish  graves  ;   in  that  of  Montmartre  there  is  even 


FOR    INDEPENDENCE  79 

a  Polish  Avenue^  and  there  rest  Slowacki,  Bohdan- 
Zaleski,  and  Lelewel ;  while  at  Auxen:*e  lies  Moch- 
nacki,  the  eminent  historian  of  the  insurrection  of 
1830.  Montmorency,  Avignon,  Poitiers,  Besan^on, 
and  many  other  towns  in  France  shelter  in  death 
those  visionaries  whose  descendants  repaid  France 
for  her  hospitality  to  their  fathers,  when  in  1870 
they  poured  out  their  blood  for  her,  and  when 
again  1914,  1915,  and  1916  found  them  ready. 

Before,  however,  they  found  eternal  rest  in  the 
cemeteries  of  France,  these  combatants  in  the  cause 
of  liberty  made  frequent  incursions  into  Poland. 
They  met  with  ill  success,  although  they  roused 
fresh  enthusiasm  and  gained  new  adherents  ;  but 
the  flame  of  hope  was  not  kept  alive  without  danger 
to  themselves,  for  Konarski  died  on  the  gallows, 
Zaliwski,  taken  prisoner  in  Galicia,  suffered  in  the 
dungeons  of  Kuf stein. 

The  party  of  Czartoryski  did  ,not  repel  in  principle 
the  scheme  of  an  insurrection  to  regain  national 
independence.  It  (was  opposed  from  the  first  to 
a  premature  rising  unsupported  by  the  Powers : 
to  a  rising  Which  had  not  every  class  of  Polish' 
society  grouped  around  its  standard.  It  considered 
the  nobility  to  be  the  support  of  the  nation,  and 
for  the  future  organization  of  the  country  it  called 
for  monai'chical  government,  and  proposed  to  under- 
take, little  by  little,  the  necessary  social  reforms. 

The  democrats  could  not  limit  themselves  to  the 
mere  propagation  of  theories  :  they  desired  to  trans- 
late these  into  action.     The  revolution  of  1846  had 


80  POLAND'S     STRUGGLE 

been  their  work,  and  altliough  they  could  not  but  re- 
gard it  as  in  some  degree  premature,  the  active  circles 
of  Cracow  and  Posen  were,  on  the  other  hand,  of 
a  different  opinion.  Composed  of  young  and  ardent 
spirits,  these  latter  called  for  the  immediate  realiza- 
tion of  the  social  revolution  by  means  of  a  national 
rebellion.  Louis  Mieroslawski,  who  was  accounted 
in  revolutionary  circles  a  strategist  of  genius,  re- 
ceived the  order  that  February  21,  1846,  was  the 
day  chosen  for  the  uprising.  Military  chiefs  were 
nominated,  a  national  Government  created— all  that 
lacked  were  arms  and  soldiers  !  On  February  12th 
the  Prussian  authorities  arrested  at  Posen  Louis 
Mieroslawski,  Libelt,  and  others  of  the  conspirators. 
In  Poland  a  certain  number  of  young  men  were 
executed,  but  affairs  took  a  still  more  tragic  turn 
in  Cracow,  which  had  been  set  up  as  a  republic 
by  the  Treaty  of  Vienna.  There  a  national  Govern- 
ment had  been  created,  which  in  its  turn  had  trans- 
mitted its  powers  to  a  dictator.  By  a  manifesto 
land  and  liberty  had  been  given  to  the  peasants, 
and  the  organization  of  armed  detachments  had 
begun  ;  but  now  all  this  ended  in  a  manner  un- 
foreseen and  tragic.  The  insurgents  saw  the 
Galician  peasants  rise  against  them. 

Faithful  to  their  motto :  Divide  et  impera 
("Divide  and  conquer"),  the  Austrian  Government 
noised  abroad  by  means  of  its  officials  the  rumour 
that  the  landowners  were  arming  themselves  to 
snatch  from  the  peasants  their  rights  and  liberties. 
For     Metternich     was     the     decision— with     what 


FOR     INDEPENDENCE  81 

weapon  should  he  crush  the  Polish  revolution?  A 
new  Feast  of  St.  Bartholomew  !  At  Tamow  the 
movement  was  under  the  direction  of  the  prefect 
Breindl  von  Wallerstein,  who  paid  ten  florins  for 
the  head  of  a  dead  insurgent,  five  for  one  taken 
alive.  A  miserable  peasant  named  Szela  actually 
killed  seventeen  members  of  a  family  called 
Bogusz.  When  a  survivor  of  this  butchery 
addressed  a  petition  to  the  Emperor  the  latter 
replied  by  a  decree  dated  August  5,  1847: 
*'  Desiring  to  show  a  special  mark  of  our  favour 
for  his  proof  of  fidelity  to  our  throne  and  wishing 
to  reward  the  loyal  conduct  of  our  trusty  and  well- 
beloved  Szela  in  the  events  which  have  taken  place 
in  Galicia  during  the  past  year  ...  we  grant  him 
the  grand  medal  of  honour  in  gold,  bearing  the 
inscription  Well  deserved." 

Austrian,  German,  Czech,  and  Hungarian 
officials,  disguised  as  peasants,  took  command  of 
the  bands  who  attacked  the  manor-houses,  and 
killed  with  scythes  unarmed  men.  No  less  than 
two  thousand  perished  in  this  terrible  year  at  the 
hands  of  the  miserable  Galician  peasantry. 

By  the  terms  of  a  treaty  drawn  up  at  Berlin, 
between  Prussia,  Russia,  and  Austria,  the  Repub- 
lic of  Cracow  ceased  to  exist,  and  was  incorporated 
with  Austria  under  the  name  of  the  Grand  Duchy 
of  Cracow. 

The   French   Revolution   of   1848  gave  occasion 

for   a    new    effort    on    the    part   of    Poland.      The 

civilized  world  shook  to  its  foundations,  and  Polish 

6 


82  POLAND'S     STRUGGLE 

hearts  bealt  the  faster.  For,  allied  with  all 
oppressed  peoples,  the  Poles  had  never  been  satis- 
fied to  fight  only  for  themselves,  but  in  all  the 
European  revolutions  they  had  taken  an  active  part ; 
and  wherever  despotism  reared  its  head  there  were 
they  found  in  arms  against  it.  They  lent  their 
blood  and  their  lives  to  the  sacred  cause  of  liberty, 
confident  that  in  the  triumph  of  this  ideal  would 
lie  the  resurrection  of  their  country.  When  the 
revolution  broke  t)ut  in  1848  at  Milan,  Adam 
Mickiewlcz,  the  great  national  poet,  formed  a  Polish 
legion,  which  fought  for  the  independence  of  Italy, 
feeling  assured  that  this  was  but  another  step 
towards  clearing  the  way  for  the  enfranchisement 
of  their  own  land.  In  the  well-known  picture  at  the 
Sorbonne,  where  Michelet  and  Quinet  occupy  in 
triumph  the  chairs  which  became  theirs  on  the 
retirement  of  the  Government  of  July,  a  third  chair 
is  empty :  it  was  destined  for  Mickiewicz,  then 
fighting  in  Milan  and  Rome  for  the  freedom  of  Italy. 

The  Russian  Government  was  able  to  profit  by 
the  experience  of  the  revolution  of  Cracow,  as  it 
did  by  the  propaganda  of  the  Abbe  Sciegienny. 
It  issued  an  edict  assuring  to  peasants  established 
on  a  holding  of  more  than  three  morgues  the 
ownership  of  that  holding.  An  inventory  was  made 
of  all  the  taxes.  The  Government  said  to  the 
peasants :  *'  I  am  your  defender."  It  is  at  this 
moment  that  the  Russian  official  steps  in  between 
the  landed   proprietor   and   the   peasant. 

The  Crimean  War  made  no  great  impression  on 


FOR     INDEPENDENCE  83 

the  kingdom.  The  country  was  strangled,  and  its 
revolutionary  energy  sensibly  weakened. 

After  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Nicolas,  Russia, 
as  well  as  Poland,  expected  an  era  of  reform,  both 
in  political  and  social  questions.  This  was  evi- 
denced when,  in  the  year  1856,  Warsaw  received 
a  visit  from  the  Emperor  Alexander  II,  who,  while 
cordially  acclaimed,  was  at  the  same  time  shown 
what  high  hopes  rested  on  him.  He  can  hardly 
be  said  to  have  justified  these  hopes  by  his 
announcement :  *'  Gentlemen,  no  dreams  !  Every- 
thing done  by  my  father  was  well  done."  Yet 
through  all  discouragement  Poland  persisted, 
expectant  of  the  new  era. 

The  principle  of  nationality  introduced  into 
politics  by  Napoleon  III  once  more  awakened  in 
the  Poles  their  hope  of  independence.  Portentous 
struggles  were  in  progress  on  the  plains  of  Lom- 
bardy,  and  the  fire  that  had  died  down  to  no  more 
than  glowing  ashes  revived.  There  was  an  out- 
burst of  patriotism— the  heart  of  youth  was  aroused  ! 
Garibaldi  was  regarded  almost  as  a  national  hero, 
and  to  aid  his  gallant  countrymen  the  young  men 
of  the  universities,  especially  the  students  at  Kieif, 
departed  in  a  body  by  circuitous  routes  to  the  shores 
of  Italy  to  fight  for  her  liberty  and  unity.  Several 
thousand  Poles  deserted  the  Russian  universities 
for  the  same  purpose  ;  from  Warsaw  there  went 
the  scholars  of  the  higher  grade  schools,  the  Art 
School,  the  Academy  of  Surgeons,  and  the  Agro- 
nomic   Institute.      The    tradition    of    Kilinski,    that 


84  POLAND'S     STRUGGLE 

heroic  shoemaker  who  shared  the  destinies  of 
Kosciiiszko,  was  still  alive  among  the  working- 
classes  of  Poland. 

The  unity  of  Italy  was  achieved— what  was  there 
to  hinder  the  reconstitution  of  dismembered  Poland  ? 
The  battles  of  Magenta  and  Solferino  were 
celebrated  in  Warsaw  as  if  they  had  been 
triumphs  of  Polish  arms.  France  was  relied 
upon  to  give  her  aid  ;  and  was  not  Napoleon  the 
dictator  of  European  diplomacy?  Patriotic  demon- 
strations took  place  in  the  capital,  and  this 
example  was  quickly  followed  in  the  provinces ; 
people  gathered  in  the  churches  to  sing  the  national 
hymns,  which  soon  were  on  every  tongue.  The 
Society  of  Agriculture,  under  the  presidency  of 
Count  Andre  Zamoyski,  sought  to  bring  about  in 
Poland  what  had  just  been  achieved  by  the 
Russian  Government :  if  not  the  complete  enfran- 
chisement of  the  peasants,  free  since  1807,  at  least 
such  an  improvement  in  their  lot  as  would  knit 
together  the  whole  nation  in  the  same  patriotic 
movement.  In  1860  the  Society  determined  to 
study  the  ways  in  which  the  peasants  could 
become  proprietors,  but  the  Minister  of  the  In- 
terior, Mouchanow,  forbade  them  to  carry  on  the 
work.  In  February  1861',  at  a  patriotic  mani- 
festation in  Warsaw,  an  assembly  of  a  thousand 
declared  unanimously  that  serfdom  must  be 
abolished.  That  this  project  should  be  entertained 
proved  the  radical  difference  between  the  Polish 
landowners  and  the  corresponding  class  in  Russia, 


FOR    INDEPENDENCE  85 

who  were  represented  on  the  Commission  brought 
together  by  the  Government,  but  who  did  every- 
thing they  could  to  counteract  and  paralyse  the 
humanitarian  schemes  of  Alexander  II. 

The  spirit  of  patriotism,  an  atmosphere  charged 
with  emotion  and  the  need  for  sacrifice— these 
worked  on  the  minds  of  the  Polish  landowners.' 

On  February  25th  the  demonstration  left  the 
church,  and  flowed  out  into  the  street,  there  to  be 
met  by  an  armed  force ;  and  two  days  later  a 
crowd  assembled  for  similar  purposes  was  fired 
upon  by  the  military,  five  people  being  killed. 
Indignation  was  general— indeed,  several  Russian 
officers  of  the  garrison  in  Warsaw  raised  a  protest 
against  this  massacre  of  a  defenceless  mob,  against 
a  fire  obviously  directed  on  women  and  children 
and  on  priests  carrying  the  cross.  One  of  them 
went  so  far  as  to  place  himself  in  front  of  his 
company,  and,  to  give  sufficient  force  to  his  protest, 
actually  committed  suicide.  Another  went  through 
the  town  to  obtain  signatures  to  a  petition  to  the 
Emperor.  "  Our  nation,"  so  ran  the  address,  "  which 
through  centuries  enjoyed  liberal  institutions, 
for  more  than  sixty  years  now  has  endured  the 
cruellest  sufferings.  No  means  exist  by  which 
the  story  of  these  sufferings  may,  be  brought  to  the 

^  At  this  time  there  were  active  preparations  in  Russia  for 
the  emancipation  of  the  peasants.  Alexander  II,  speaking  to 
the  nobles  of  Lithuania  on  November  20,  1857,  asked  them 
to  consider  a  means  for  bettering  the  condition  of  the  peasants. 
The  Lithuanian  landowners,  by  a  large  majority,  declared  for 
the  abolition  of  serfdom. 


86  POLAND'S     STRUGGLE 

steps  of  the  Throne  ;  the  bitter  cry  which  goes  up 
may  not  make  itself  heard  except  through  the 
voice  of  the  martyrs,  a  holocaust  offered  daily. 
A  country  whose  civilization  is  already  on  a  par 
with  that  of  her  Western  neighbours  should  be 
able  to  develop  herself  on  a  moral,  not  material, 
basis  ;  to  the  end  that  her  Church,  her  legislation, 
her  public  instruction,  and  the  whole  of  her  social 
organization  should  not  be  incapable  of  upholding 
her  national  genius  and  the  great  historic  traditions 
of  the   past." 

In  reply  to  this  address,  which  was  supported 
by  Prince  Gortschakoff,  the  Government  of  St. 
Petersburg  decided  to  grant  Poland  administrative 
and  scholastic  reforms,  the  execution  of  which  was 
entrusted  to  one  of  the  great  Polish  landlords,  the 
Marquis  Wielopolski.  A  department  of  public  in- 
struction was  at  once  founded,  and  borough  and 
municipal  councils  were  established.  Wielopolski 
longed  for  the  powers  of  the  1815  Constitution. 
He  was  not  popular — he  could  not  well  be  !  Of 
an  arbitrary  nature,  and  lacking  in  tact,  he  believed 
in  the  might  of  his  own  arm,  and  had  never  learned 
to  steer  a  safe  course  between  the  Russia  who  wished 
to  give  as  little  as  possible  and  that  Poland  who 
demanded  above  all  her  liberty.  Still,  the  Marquis 
during  the  time  he  was  in  power  did  much.  He 
first  created  an  educational  system  peculiarly  Polish 
by  virtue  of  the  spirit  which  animated  it,  and  yet 
entirely  European  in  its  pedagogic  tendencies.  A 
special    commission,    composed    of    the    most   dis- 


FOR     INDEPENDENCE  87 

tinguished  Russian  teachers,  made  it  the  subject 
of  a  long  discussion  at  St.  Petersburg,  and  could 
not  withhold  their  admiration.  On  May  16,  1861, 
Wielopolski  also  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  decree 
regulating  the  repurchase  of  lands  belonging  to  the 
peasants. 

But  the  Poles,  preoccupied  by  the  idea  of 
European  intervention,  could  hardly  be  content  with 
an  educational  system.  They  were  all  the  more 
determined  since,  not  only  was  Wielopolski  at 
Warsaw,  but  associated  with  him  was  General 
Suchozanet,  who  made  no  mention  of  educational 
reform,  and  remained  faithful  to  the  policy  of 
reprisals. 

The  revolutionary  movement  took  firmer  and 
firmer  hold  on  the  people,  and  before  long  scenes 
like  those  which  had  taken  place  in  Warsaw  were 
enacted  in  Vilna.  It  was  strangely  ironic  that,  by 
applying  the  same  system  of  repression  to  all  these 
provinces,  Russia  should  to  some  extent  seal  that 
very  unity  of  the  Polish  nation  which  she  had  set 
herself  to  destroy.  An  official  proclamation  spoke 
of  Lithuania,  the  home  of  Kosciuszko  and  Mickie- 
wicz,  as  a  province  that  had  always  belonged  to 
the  Russian  Empire  and  had  been  united  to  Poland 
only  for  a  short  period. 

In  connection  with  the  nomination  of  members 
to  the  provincial  and  district  councils  at  the  end 
of  September,  the  electors  made  their  wishes  known 
by  signing  two  petitions,  one  demanding  Jiational 
representation,  the   other  seeking   equal  rights  for 


88  POLAND'S     STRUGGLE 

the  Jews.  The  two  petitions  should  have  reached 
the  Lieutenant  of  the  Emperor  on  October  18th, 
but  on  the  14th,  rumours  of  this  move  having 
reached  official  circles,  and  an  agitation  at  the  same 
time  manifesting  itself  in  the  Empire  concerning 
the  Universities  of  St.  Petersburg  and  Moscow,  the 
Lieutenant  declared  a  state  of  siege. 

On  the  15th  of  October  there  was  to  have  been 
a  demonstration  in  memory  of  Kosciuszko.  The 
population  proceeded  to  the  churches.  The  troops 
did  not  prevent  any  one  from  entering.  But  once 
the  churches  were  filled,  the  army  received  the  order 
to  surround  them.  The  crowd  refused  to  come  out ; 
they  stayed  in  the  churches  the  whole  day  and 
part  of  th^e  night,  excited,  hungry,  but  immovable. 
iWhen  ordered  to  quit  the  house  of  God,  they  de- 
manded first  of  all  the  withdrawal  of  the  troops. 
At  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  after  a  siege 
of  seventeen  hours,  the  soldiers  rushed  into  the 
cathedral.  More  than  two  thousand  people  were 
arrested  and  conducted  to  the  citadel.  In  the 
morning  an  incredible  scene  took  place  between 
General  Guerstenzweig,  Military  Commander  of 
Warsaw,  and  Count  Lambert,  the  Emperor's  Lieu- 
tenant. The  former  was  responsible  for  the  invasion 
of  the  churches  by  the  troops,  the  latter  protested 
against  this  measure,  which  would  range  all  the 
clergy,  of  the  country  in  the  ranks  of  the  implacable 
enemies  of  the  Government.  After  a  most  exciting 
scene,  the  General  blew  out  his  brains,  and  Count 
Lambert  left  Warsaw  suddenly,  never  to  return. 


FOR     INDEPENDENCE  89 

Wielopolski  immediately  sent  in  his  resignation, 
not  daring  to  carry  through  his  reforms  in  face 
of  the  prevailing  conditions.  In  June  1862  a 
National  Central  Committee,  after^vards  the  National 
Government,  came  into  existence,  receiving  the  name 
of  the  Red  Committee  in  opposition  to  the  White 
Committee.  Both  were  faithful  to  the  same  ideal 
and  worked  with  the  same  aim  in  view — ^the  re- 
constitution  of  Poland.  They  differed,  however,  in 
mode  of  action  ;  for  while  the  Red  Committee  held 
that  the  only  way  of  salvation  was  by  the  path  of 
rebellion,  the  White  Committee  wished  above  all 
things  to  attain  its  end  peacefully.  The  Red 
Committee  acted  in  conjunction  with  the  Parisian 
Committee,  and  through  that  body  with  the  Military 
School  of  Cuneo,  where  officers  became  cognisant 
of  the   next  insurrectional   movement. 

During  this  time  .Wielopolski  was  trying  at  St. 
Petersburg  to  bring  home  to  the  Emperor  the  only 
means  by  which  Poland  could  be  pacificated :  by 
a  radical  reform  in  tlie  method  of  administration, 
Foreseeing  the  probability  of  an  outbreak  during 
the  spring  of  1863,  in  which  Poles  and  Russians 
might  join  forces,  the  Russian  Government  resolved 
to  avert  this  potential  uprising  by  promptly  dealing 
with  Poland.  A  humbled  Poland  would  make  much 
easier  the  path  of  repression  in  Russia,  and  the 
first  step  should  be  a  levy  of  Polish  recruits. 

Wielopolski  became  the  instrument  of  this  policy, 
and  decided  that  the  levy  should  take  place  on 
January  22nd.    But  on  learning  the  news  the  young 


90  POLAND'S     STRUGGLE 

men  fled  with  one  accord  to  the  forests.  They 
formed  themselves  into  detachments,  and  the  Central 
Committee,  without  fixing  the  actual  date  of  the 
rising,  on  January  16th  declared  a  state  of  rebellion. 
The  leaders  of  the  insurrection,  however,  warned 
the  Committee  on  the  17th  that  they  could  not 
long  defer  the  date,  for  fear  of  a  spontaneous  but 
premature  outburst,  which  could  only  end  in  failure. 
In  accordance  with  this  warning  the  Committee  de- 
cided upon  the  night  of  January  22nd-23rd  as  the 
moment   for   action. 

There  were  at  this  time  about  85,000  Russian 
troops  in  Poland,  yet  the  insurgents  were  able  to 
hold  out  against  them  for  a  year  and  a  half — 
in  certain  districts  until  1865.  During  the  eighteen 
months  the  rebellion  was  in  progress  nearly  a 
thousand  encounters  took  place  between  the  Prosna 
and  the  Dnieper  ;  at  the  end  of  the  third  month 
the  movement  had  extended  to  Lithuania,  to  White 
Russia,  and  to  the  South -West  Province.  Many 
of  the  detachments  were  commanded  by  officers 
who,  but  a  short  time  before,  had  been  serving 
in  the  ranks  of  the  Russian  Army  ;  such  a  Russian, 
for  instance,  as  Potebnia,  the  friend  of  Herzen  ; 
such  a  Frenchman  as  Rochebrun  ;  such  an  Italian 
as  Nullo.  The  insurgents,  chiefly  of  the  younger 
generation  (indeed,  it  may  be  said  that  the  youth 
of  the  schools  without  distinction  of  class  enrolled 
themselves  under  the  banner  of  insurrection),  were 
drawn  in  the  main  from  the  lesser  nobles  and  the 
middle    classes,    but    the    movement    attracted    the 


FOR     INDEPENDENCE  91 

artisans,  the  workers,  many  miners  from  the  coal- 
fields of  the  south,  and  a  fair  number  of  peasants, 
as  those  in  the  Lithuanian  detachments  of  Siera- 
kowski,  though  they  were  proportionally  least 
numerous.  It  has  been  maintained  by  many  Russian 
historians  that  the  peasants  were  altogether  opposed 
to  the  insurrection  ;  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  could 
never  have  lasted  so  long  without  their  goodwill. 

After  the  Central  Committee  had  become  the 
National  Government,  it  published  a  manifesto  con- 
taining this  declaration  of  faith :  "  All  the  sons 
of  Poland  shall  be  free,  all  shall  be  equal,  and  the 
land  occupied  by  the  peasants  shall  belong  to  them 
henceforth  without  restrictions."  Provision  was 
made,  it  may  here  be  mentioned,  for  the  compen- 
sation of  the  former  owners. 

The  nature  of  this  rebellion,  its  evolution,  can- 
not be  rightly  understood  by  regarding  it  simply 
from  the  standpoint  either  of  Russia  or  of  Poland. 
A  question  of  international  politics  was  at  stake — 
a  question  which  engaged  the  attention  of  the  diplo- 
mats of  Europe. 

Prussia  at  that  time  was  governed  by  Bismarck. 
He  realized  that  it  was  possible,  and  therefore  to 
him  essential,  to  profit  by  the  difficulties  in  which 
Russia  found  herself  engulfed.  There  was  an 
opportunity  to  further  his  own  vast  imperial 
designs.  To  this  end  he  made  a  private  proposal  to 
the  Russian  Government,  resulting  in  an  agreement 
which  was  concluded  on  February  8,  1863.  The 
object  was  to  bring  about  the  submission  of  Poland. 


92  POLAND'S     STRUGGLE 

On  February  11th  he  informed  the  British  Ambas- 
sador, Sir  Andrew  Buchanan,  of  the  arrangement. 

"What?"  protested  the  latter.  "Prussia  co- 
operate with  Russia  to  crush  the  Polish  insurrec- 
tion? Will  Prussian  soldiers,  then,  be  sent  against 
Poland?" 

"  Yes,"  said  Bismarck.  "  The  resurrection  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Poland  is  detrimental  to  Prussia.  .  .  . 
The  insurrection  will  be  promptly  crushed  in  con- 
cert with  Russia,  or  if  the  situation  develops  and 
becomes  more  serious — well,  say  that  the  Russians 
were  driven  out  of  Poland — then  we  should  occupy 
that  kingdom  to   the  advantage  of  Prussia." 

"  But,"  replied  the  British  Ambassador,  amused 
at  these  confidences,  "  Europe  would  never  allow  it." 

With  a  glacial  calm  the  Prussian  Minister  asked, 
"Who  is  ^Europe'?" 

"  The  different  great  nations,"  replied  Sir  Andrew. 

"Are  they  all  of  one  mind?  "    retorted  the  other. 

The  Ambassador  dared  not  reply  positively,  but 
stated  that  France  would  never  tolerate  a  new 
annihilation  of  Poland. 

"  For  us,"  replied  Bismarck,  "  this  annihilation 
is  a  matter  of  life  and  death." 

At  this  time  Bismarck  stood  alone  in  his  alliance 
with  Russia.  The  whole  of  Europe  was  against 
him :  even  his  own  Prussian  Chambers  opposed 
him.  And  France?  France,  who  had  made  war 
with  Italy,  who  had  snatched  Milan  from  the  Habs- 
burgs,  who  had  favoured  the  monarchy  of  Victor- 
Emmanuel,    who    had    upheld    tlie    cause    of   the 


FOR     INDEPENDENCE  95 

people,  and  sounded  the  clarion  note  of  deliverance 
for  the  nations  to  the  very  confines  of  the  Ottoman 
Empire — v^as  it  not  incumbent  upon  her  to  inter- 
fere for  the  welfare  of  Poland? 

Napoleon  III  accordingly  sent  a  personal  letter 
to  Alexander  II,  in  which  he  counselled  him  to 
make  Poland  an  independent  kingdom,  with  the 
Grand  Duke  Constantin  as  king.  Certain  of  the 
support  of  Prussia,  the  Tsar  scouted  this  proposal. 
The  Court  of  the  Tuilleries,  supported  by  the 
opinion  of  the  country,  thereupon  undertook  a,  diplo- 
matic campaign  on  a  larger  scale.  On  April  10th 
the  three  Powers,  England,  France,  and  Austria, 
addressed  diplomatic  notes  to  St.  Petersburg,  asking 
Russia  to  re-establish  Poland  on  such  a  basis  as 
would  ensure  a  lasting  peace.  Lord  John  Russell 
said :  "  The  question  is  whether  the  engagements 
into  which  Russia  entered,  and  to  which  she  set  her 
hand  in  the  Treaty  of  Vienna,  have  been  faithfully 
carried  out  by  her.  Her  Majesty's  Government 
feels  obliged  to  demand  a  reply  to  this  question."    , 

This  demonstration  was  further  supported  by 
notes  from  all  the  Powers  who  had  appended  their 
signatures  to  the  Treaty  of  Vienna — Spain,  Portugal, 
Italy,  Sweden,  Denmark,  the  Netherlands,  Turkey, 
and  Saint  Siege.  Such  an  imfiortant  demonstra- 
tion should  have  made  itself  felt  throughout  the 
whole  of  Europe,  but  once  more  it  proved  to  be 
a  case  of  the  mountain  in  labour.  The  diplomatic 
campaign  dragged  on  and  resulted  in  nothing ! 
Unhappy   Poland  !      Never   before    had    the   solici- 


94  POLAND'S     STRUGGLE 

tude  of  Europe  been  so  fruitless,  indeed,  even 
detrimental,   as   it  was    for   this  hapless  nation. 

The  triumph  of  Bismarck  was  complete.  Sir 
Andrew  Buchanan,  writing  on  November  28,  1863, 
to  Lord  John  Russell,  said :  "  The  events  which 
have  taken  place  in  Poland,  in  spite  of  the  reproof 
of  the  three  Great  Powers,  have  led  the  Germans 
to  believe  that  no  one  will  oppose  their  arms  in 
the  work  of  the  spoliation  of  Denmark."  The 
success  of  Bismarck's  schemes  certain,  there 
followed  the  wars   of    1864,    1866,   and   1870. 

Poland  still  struggled  on,  but  against  immense 
odds.  Russia,  with  public  opinion  on  the  side  of  the 
Government,  had  120,000  soldiers  in  the  country  ; 
Mouravieff  was  proclaimed  an  archangel  Michael 
of  Holy  Russia,  and  the  war  upon  which  he  entered 
was  declared   "  Holy." 

In  the  month  of  April  Monseigneur  Felinski, 
Archbishop  of  Warsaw,  addressed  his  celebrated 
letter  to  the  Emperor  :  "  Blood  is  flowing  in  streams, 
and  affliction,  instead  of  lowering  the  spirits  of 
the  combatants,  serves  but  to  endue  them  with  a 
sterner  resolve.  I  entreat  your  Majesty  in  the  iiame 
of  Christian  charity,  in  the  interests  of  both  coun- 
tries to  put  an  end  to  this  war  of  annihilation.  The 
institutions  granted  by  your  Majesty  are  not 
sufficient  to  ensure  the  happiness  of  the  country. 
Poland  will  not  be  content  with  an  administrative 
autonomy  ;  she  needs  a  political  life  of  her  own. 
Sire,  take  up  this  cause  with  a  strong  hand.  Make 
of  Poland  an  independent  nation,  united  to  Russia 


FOR     INDEPENDENCE  95 

by  the  bond  of  your  august  family.  It  is  the  only 
way  to  stop  this  shedding  of  blood,  and  to  establish 
an  abiding  peace.  Time  is  pressing.  Every  day 
the  chasm  between  the  Throne  and  the  nation  be- 
comes wider.  Sire,  do  not  wait  for  the  end  of  the 
struggle.  There  is  a  greater  grandeur  in  clemency, 
which  recoils  in  the  face  of  such  carnage  than 
in  a  victory  which  wipes  out  the  inhabitants  of  a 
kingdom." 

But  his  was  a  voice  crying  in  the  wilderness. 

Mouravieff  was  dictator  of  Lithuania,  and  at  once 
showed  his  hand.  Insurgents  who  had  been  taken 
prisoners  were  brought  before  him  on  his  arrival 
at  the  first  town  in  his  jurisdiction.  "  It  is  useless 
to  take  prisoners,"  was  his  order.  A  few  days 
later  he  issued  a  circular  which,  in  brief,  declared  : 
All  sympathy  with  the  insurrection  would  be 
punished  in  the  same  way  as  a  direct  participa- 
tion ;  mourning  was  prohibited,  and  women  who 
iwore  black  would  be  punished  ;  the  names  of  the 
insurgents,  the  composition  of  the  bands,  and  the 
name  of  their  chief  must  all  be  revealed  without 
any  consideration  whatsoever  of  kinship ;  if  a 
murder  were  committed,  or  the  insurgents  procured 
provisions  in  any  place,  all  its  inhabitants  would 
be  held  responsible.  Each  of  these  offences  was 
punishable  by  death,  exile  to  Siberia,  confiscation 
of  property.  To  the  peasants  Mouravieff  declared  : 
"  Peasants,  you  are  no  longer  obliged  to  work  for 
your  lord — try  to  destroy  the  rebels'  means  of  liveli- 
hood.    If  any  passer-by  seems  to  you  a  suspicious 


96  POLAND'S     STRUGGLE 

character,  have  him  arrested.  Hitherto  evil-inten- 
tioned  persons,  either  priests  or  landlords,  have 
obtained  mastery  over  you  ;  now  shake  this  off. 
Do  not  permit  a  priest  to  profane  his  church  by 
reading  proclamations  subversive  to  law  and  order." 

Mouravieff,  utterly  without  pity  towards  priests 
and  nobles,  gave  orders  that  presbyteries  and  castles 
should  be  given  to  the  flames.  To  strike  terron 
into  all  hearts  he  sent  innocent  people  to  the  gallows, 
filled  the  prisons  with  his  victims,  and  dispatched 
other  unfortunates  to  the  distant  provinces  of  the 
Empire.  He  had  all  the  libraries  kept  in  the 
cloisters  and  in  the  colleges  confiscated.  The  books 
seized  from  twenty-six  cloisters,  twenty -two  colleges, 
twenty-six  high-grade  schools,  and  twelve  libraries, 
public  and  private,  were  brought  to  Vilna  and  de- 
posited in  a  Public  Library,  the  Polish  department 
of  which  was  not  in  use  at  all  till  1905.  At  the 
present  time  this  library  contains  125,000  Polish 
volumes,  329  Slav  manuscripts,  2,360  Polish  manu- 
scripts, and  65,000  letters,  altogether  nearly  130,000 
manuscript  documents,  165  early  printed  books,  and 
583  books  printed  in  the  sixteenth  century.  Orders 
were  issued  for  the  closing  of  the  astronomical 
observatory  at  Vilna,  and  the  printing  of  books 
was  prohibited   in  Lithuania. 

At  Warsaw  General  Berg  pursued  similar  tactics. 
In  June  Wielopolski  was  dismissed  and  the  Grand 
Duke  Constantin  recalled.  Then,  following  the 
example  of  Mouravieff,  who  had  ordered  the  public 
execution    of    200    prisoners.    Berg    executed    the 


FOR     INDEPENDENCE  97 

insurgents  in  the  streets  of  Warsaw ;  he  imposed 
a  special  fine  upon  the  people  for  outrages  against 
the  police  ;  he  gave  into  the  hands  of  the  chiefs 
of  the  district  powers  of  life  and  death  over  the 
nobles  of  the  country.  To  put  an  end  to  the  possi- 
bility of  a  new  rising,  it  was  decided  to  introduce 
w'hat  has  been  called  peasant  reform.  Previous 
mention  has  been  made  of  what  had  already  been 
attempted  in  this  direction. 

Katkoff  maintained  that  the  Polish  question  would 
be  solved  in  a  manner  favourable  to  Russia  if  once 
the  peasant  population  were  won  over  to  her  side  ; 
that  whoever  brought  about  such  a  consummation 
would  be  master  of  the  country.  Accordingly  in 
October  1863  the  Government  sent  to  Warsaw  a 
Commission,  composed  of  such  men  as  Milioutine, 
Samarine,  and  Tscherkasski,  charged  to  elaborate 
a  plan  of  reforms  by  which  the  peasants'  support 
should  be  gained. 

Like  all  Slavophiles,  they  were  under  the  impres- 
sion that  the  chief  obstacle  to  an  agreement  between 
the  Poles  and  the  Russians  was  the  Latin  culture 
with  which  the  ruling  classes  were  deeply  imbued. 
To  bring  the  mass  of  the  people  of  Poland  under 
the  spell  of  the  so-called  Slav  tradition,  the  influence 
of  the  ruling  classes  must  be  removed,  and  the 
people  emancipated  both  morally  and  materially. 
The  peasants  were  therefore  made  the  owners  of 
the  houses  and  lands  which  up  to  that  time  they 
had  held  only  as  tenants,  and  this  at  the  expense 
of  the  landlords,  except  for  the  payment  of  a  very 

7 


98  POLAND'S     STRUGGLE 

small  indemnity,  ground  rents  and  forced  labour 
being  abolished  altogether.  Thus  it  was  intended 
to  remove  the  common  people  from  the  sphere  of 
influence  of  the  priest  and  the  lord.  Not  only  this, 
but  the  ancient  rights  were  so  arranged  as  to  be 
productive  of  discord  between  lord  and  peasant, 
and  in  these  disputes  the  Russian  administration 
invariably  arbitrated.  The  peasants  further  re- 
tained the  right  of  easements,  this  right  being  under 
the  care  of  eighty-five  new  officials  called  Rural 
Commissioners,  and  the  landlords  received  their 
indemnification  in  the  form  of  duties.  Where  the 
expense  of  the  reform  fell  heavily  upon  the  peasants, 
a  land  tax  was  forced  upon  them,  which  they  had 
paid   for  forty   years  without   any  modification. 

The  Abbe  Lamennais,  in  his  "  Hymn  to  Poland," 
dated  Rome,  April  1832,  uttered  these  words: 
"  Sleep  on,  O  Poland,  sleep  !  That  nesting-place 
they  call  thy  tomb  is  but  thy  cradle  !  "  In  keeping 
with  these  prophetic  words  the  struggle  for  liberty 
raged  in  Poland  throughout  the  nineteenth  century, 
to  end  invariably  in  defeat.  In  1831,  1846,  1863, 
and  as  late  as  1906,  the  dreams  of  the  nation  soared 
— borne  upwards  on  the  pinions  of  the  mighty 
victory  of  Marathon,  only  to  be  shattered  in  disaster 
as   at   Cherona3a. 

The  rising  of  1830  was  a  revolution  of  nobles, 
of  the  army,  of  men  of  letters,  and  the  same  may 
be  said  of  1846 ;  but  in  1863  a  new  element, 
furnished  by  the  towns,  came  into  force,  when  the 
lesser  nobles,  the  middle  classes,  the  younger  gene- 


FOR     INDEPENDtrNpg:  j  ;:r }  j!;  ;'.J|d, 

ration  of  both,  and  of  the  artisans  of  Warsaw,  all 
took  their  part.  It  was  more  than  the  blossoming 
of  the  lilies  placed  on  the  tomb  of  1830:  out  of 
that  sepulchre  rose  a  presence  new  and  strange — 
democracy  proclaiming  the  dawn  of  a  new  era. 
It  is  true  that  many  attempts  were  made  to  alienate 
the  peasant  from  the  rest  of  the  nation,  to  present 
him  to  the  civilized  world  as  a  disseminator  of 
discord,  as  a  source  of  trouble  and  annoyance  to 
Europe.  He  was  given  a  communal  autonomy ; 
officials  were  specially  created  to  bring  discord 
between  him  and  the  rest  of  the  nation  ;  schools 
were  founded  for  him,  where  the  instruction  was 
given  in  Russian — and  after  forty  years  of  this 
regime  80  per  cent,  of  the  peasants  could 
neither  read  nor  write  !  In  our  epoch  there  has 
emerged  in  every  country  a  new  social  type,  which 
may  be  designated  the  proletariat  of  the  towns. 
Poland,  in  her  development,  reveals  this  trend,  and 
possesses  great  industrial  centres ;  but  even  in 
them  there  is  a  dearth  of  schools.  Indeed,  only. 
59  per  cent,  of  the  inhabitants  of  Warsaw  are 
acquainted  with  the  alphabet. 

Yet  something  of  a  miracle  has  occurred.  The 
peasant  on  the  land,  the  artisan  in  the  town,  de- 
manded the  liberation  of  their  country.  In  the 
communal  institutions  (where  their  representatives 
settled  their  affairs,  and  from  which  the  great  land- 
owners were  excluded ),  in  rural  communities,  every- 
where the  peasants  tore  the  official  writings  into 
pieces.     These  men,  although  ignorant  themselves, 


iOO  P0-LAND'S     STRUGGLE 

required  that  the  Polish  language  should  be  heard 
once  more  in  the  schools  and  in  the  administration 
of  the  country  ;  and  not  content  even  with  this, 
they  drove  away  the  teachers  who  were  alien  to 
them  in  birth  and  sympathy.  They  declared,  in 
fact,  that  they  would  pay  no  tax  so  long  as  the 
justice  of  their  claims  remained  unacknowledged. 
As  in  France,  so  everywhere  in  Poland,  while  the 
workers  claimed  the  rights  of  their  class,  they  de- 
sired above  all  to  see  Poland  free  and  independent, 
under  one  form  or  another  living  her  own  political 
life.  All  their  aspirations  grouped  themselves  round 
the  one  word  "  Poland  !  "  Sleep  no  more,  then, 
O  Poland  !  Thy  resting-place  is  not  a  tomb,  but 
a  cradle  ! 

The  problem  of  Poland  in  the  last  analysis  is 
as  simple  as  any  of  the  great  world  truths.  In 
feeling  and  in  civilization  England  and  Poland 
find  mutually  a  bond  of  union.  By  a  heavenly 
rainbow,  one  end  of  which  rests  on  this  fair 
land,  the  other  on  the  shores  of  the  Vistula, 
Poland  is  joined  to  England.  On  the  arch  is  traced 
in  letters  of  fire  the  watchword  for  which  hearts 
have  suffered  in  Poland  as  in  England  throughout 
all  generations,  the  watchword  of  liberty.  England, 
country  of  the  free  !  give  help  to  Polaild,  that  she 
may  gain  that  freedom  which  both  countries  love, 
that  freedom  for  which  she  herself  has  struggled  so 
long  ! 


THE  POPULATION  of  THE 
POLISH   COMMONWEALTH 

BY 

ARTHUR  E.   GURNEY 

With  a  Preface  by 
LUDWIK  JANOWSKI.   M.A..  Ph.D. 

Lecturer  on  Slavonic  Literatures  at  the  University  of  Cracow 


PREFACE 

It  is  with  the  greatest  satisfaction  that  I  take  the 
opportunity  of  writing  a  few  words  of  introduction 
to  Mr.  A.  E.  Gurney's  pamphlet.  TJie  author  has 
given  to  the  British  public  a  most  accurate  and  at 
the  same  time  a  very  vivid  account  of  the  popula- 
tion of  the  former  Polish  Commonwealth,  a  nation 
which  notwithstanding  its  indisputable  right  to 
existence,  the  world  at  large  appears  to  have 
forgotten. 

What,  then,  was  this  Commonwealth,  which  120 
years  ago  had  to  yield  to  superior  forces,  whose 
very  name  was  struck  out  from  the  map  of 
Europe? 

It  was  a  first-class  political  Power,  extremely 
original  in  its  structure,  and  in  respect  of  its  con- 
stitutional arrangements  and  progressive  polic}^ 
much  ahead  of  the  other  continental  States. 

To  Great  Britain  alone  and  to  her  constitutional 
development  Poland  must  yield  a  place  ;  but  though 
the  Polish  Commonwealth  did  not  possess  such  a 
well -organized  State  machinery  as  this  country,  yet 
she  herself  worked  out  quite  independently  her 
own  Habeas  Corpus  Act,  her  limitations  of  the 
royal  prerogative,  a  scheme  of  popular  legis- 
lation, etc. 

The  real  greatness  of  the  Commonwealth  was  not 
in  the  extent  of  her  territories,  which  nevertheless 

103 


104  PREFACE 

occupied  a  great  part  of  the  Mid-European  plain, 
but  it  was  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  union 
of  the  different  nationalities  incorporated  on  her 
territory  was  a  voluntary  one.  Since  the  fourteenth 
century  Poland,  which  had  no  natural  eastern 
boundaries,  grew,  not  by  way  of  conquests  and 
annexations,  but  through  federations  and  voluntary 
unions.  The  rich  and  healthy  Polish  State  attracted 
other  nationalities.  Which  desired  the  benefit  of 
constitutional  liberties,  and  absorbed  Western  civili- 
zation, which  again  radiated  in  return  from  Poland 
far  beyond  her  own  frontiers.  In  the  fourteenth 
century  Red  Ruthenia  (part  of  Galicia  and  Volhynia 
of  to-day)  and  Lithuania  joined  Poland,  in  the 
fifteenth  century  Ducal  Prussia,  and  in  the  sixteenth 
Masovia  and  Livland  followed  their  example,  while 
Moldavia,  Gurland,  and  Brandenburg  (later  Kingdom 
of  Prussia)  acknowledged  her  sovereigaty.  T<hese 
new  provinces  joined  Poland  as  autonomous  units, 
but  they  soon  fell  under  the  influence  of  her  higher 
civilization.  The  inhabitants  of  the  new  territories 
clamoured  for  the  introduction  "  of  the  good 
Christian  and  liberal  laws  of  the  Polish  Kingdom." 
Owing  to  the  voluntary  and  complete  adoption  of 
the  Polish  social  structure  by  these  other  nation- 
alities, they  all  assumed  a  uniform  character  and 
formed  a  single  Res  publica  extending  from'  the 
Baltic  to  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea. 

The  Poles  were  the  creators  of  this  State  and 
cemented  together  its  different  parts.  TJie  other 
nations,  the  Lithuanians,  the  Germans,  and  numer- 
ous Eastern  Slavonic  nationalities,  the  Armenians 
and  the  Tartars,  took  up  the  Polish  civilization  with 
its  progressive  ideas.     They  undertook  along  with 


PREFACE  105 

the  Poles  the  great  historical  task  of  the  Common- 
wealth—viz. the  defence  of  the  West  against  the 
East.  In  this  free  and  federal  State  everybody 
spoke  and  wrote  in  whatever  language  he  wished. i 
Education  made  great  progress.  Side  by  side  with 
this  political  process,  another  development  of  a 
sociological  character  was  going  on  also  and  was 
amalgamating  all  the  different  racial  elements  of 
the  Commonwealth  into  one  national  whole.  We 
know  of  a  similar  process  in  history.  TJie  Romans 
ruled  in  Gallia  during  five  centuries  and  Gallia  was 
Romanized.  But  this  was  not  the  result  of  a  policy 
of  forcible  denationalization,  as  is  so  often  the  case. 
It  was  due  to  the  higher  development  of  Roman 
civilization.  If  we  bear  in  mind  that  Rome  was  a 
centralizing  State,  while  the  Polish  Commonwealth 
was  highly  decentralized,  we  shall  appreciate  still 
more  the  value  of  this  process  of  natural  amalga- 
mation and  of  the  ideas  of  equality  and  justice  on 
which  it  was  based.  TJie  results  of  the  union  far 
outgrew  the  hopes  of  its  founders.  The  amalgama- 
tion was  the  result  of  the  common  sacrifices  and 
endeavours  of  the  population  of  the  Commonwealth, 
and  it  was  strengthened  by  the  constant  and  un- 
shakable will  Which  such  common  sacrifices  pro- 
duce. In  this  way  there  grew  up  the  idea  of 
common  citizenship  in  a  common  State.  This  can 
be  seen  even  in  those  who  could  have  had  the 
support  of  another.  State,  as  was  the  case  of  the 
German    burgesses    of    Dantzig,    who    nevertheless 

^  In  the  greater  part  of  the  Eastern  territory  White 
Ruthenian  was  the  official  language,  but  in  time  its  use  was 
given  up  quite  naturally  in  favour  of  Polish  without  any 
pressure  from  the  Government. 


106  PREFACE 

remained  faithful  to  the  Commonwealth  till  the 
very  end. 

This  process  of  amalgamation  would  have  been 
carried  on  had  it  not  been  for  the  external  pres- 
sure of  enemies  and  for  the  internal  dissensions 
brought  about  by  the  general  disintegration  of 
Europe. 

The  love  of  the  great  Polish  mother  country 
mingled  with  the  very  blood  of  her  sons,  and 
remained  equally  strong  after  the  fall  of  the 
Commonwealth.  We  see  the  astonishing  fact  that 
a  desire  for  the  reconstruction  of  their  famous 
State  which  had  made  the  happiness  of  so  many 
previous  generations  never  ceased  in  any  of  its 
former  territories.  In  1794,  1806,  1812,  1831,  1846, 
1848,  and  1863  the  struggle  for  liberty  was  carried 
on  within  all  these  ancient  boundaries.  And  to-day 
the  Poles  Who  are  living  in  the  midst  of  other 
nationalities  which  have  preserved  their  own  lan- 
guages regard  these  other  peoples  as  sons  of  the 
same  motherland. 

The  last  National  Polish  Government  (1863-4), 
which  appeared  at  a  time  when  in  some  parts  a 
feeling  of  ethnographic  dissimilarity  began  to  be 
felt,  solemnly  proclaimed  that  the  ancient  prin- 
ciple of  "  freedom  and  equality "  should  be  pre- 
served for  ever,  and  should  always  be  the  basis  of 
the  Polish  State. 

These  high  traditions  still  continue  in  the  hearts 
of  all  true  sons  of  the  Commonwealth. 

LUDWIK   JANOWSKI. 


THE    POPULATION   OF 
THE    POLISH    COMMONWEALTH 

The  extensive  territories  which,  up  to  the  year 
1772,  constituted  the  Commonwealth  of  Poland  are 
inhabited  by  several  distinct  nationalities,  the 
majority  of  which  belong  to  the  Slavonic  race. 
Among  them  all  the  Poles  are  by  far  the  most 
numerous. 

The  Poles  are  of  medium  height,  and— especially 
in  the  northern  territories— of  slighter  build  than 
the  members  of  other  Slavonic  nations,  but  they  are 
generally  of  more  harmonious  proportions.  This 
lends  them  an  air  of  distinction  which  appears 
to  raise  them  above  the  other  nations. 

The  majority  of  the  Poles  are  fair-haired,  and 
the  predominating  colour  of  the  eyes  is  light  blue 
or  grey.  Most  of  the  men,  especially  among  the 
upper  classes,  are  handsome,  and  the  women  are 
frequently  of  exceptional  beauty. 

The  people  are  active,  ardent,  courageous,,  and 
chivalrous,  and  hospitality  and  charity  are  their 
chief   virtues. 

Their  disposition  is  gay  and  impulsive,  and  they 
are  inclined  to  be  dreamers — these  traits  have  found 
expression  in  Polish  poetry  and  art,  as  well  as 
in  the  music  of  the  people. 

The  Poles  are  an  exceptionally  gifted  people,  and 


108  XHE    EORULATION    OE 

the  nation  has  produced  men  of  genius  in  every 
walk  of  life :  Polish  military  leaders,  statesmen, 
scientists,  poets,  musicians,  painters,  etc.,  are  among 
the   greatest   the   world   has   known. 

The  country  watered  by  the  Vistula  and  its 
tributaries  is  the  cradle  of  the  Polish  nation,  which 
spread  thence  in  all  directions,  until  its  territories 
extended  from  the  Oder  to  the  Dnieper,  and  from 
the  Baltic  to  Roumania,  and  it  came  to  be  one 
of  the  most  powerful  and  most  highly  civilized  of 
European  nations. 

The  density  of  population  varies  very  consider- 
ably in  different  parts  of  the  Polish  territories. 
It  is  highest  in  Galicia,  where— in  the  districts 
around  Cracow— as  many  as  648  inhabitants  to  the 
square  mile  are  to  be  found,  and  lowest  in 
White  Ruthenia,  especially  in  Polesia,  where  their 
numbers   drop   as  low  as   47  to  the  square  mile. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  arrive  at  the  actual  numbers 
of  the  various  nationalities  inhabiting  the  territories 
of  the  former  Commonwealth,  as  the  Powers  by 
which  Poland  was  partitioned  do  not  compile 
impartial  statistics  on  the  matter.  The  difficulty 
of  obtaining  reliable  figures  is  increased  by*  the 
circumstance  that  the  Russian,  Austrian,  and 
Prussian  authorities  empjoy  different  methods 
in  the  compilation  of  statistics.  All  three 
classify  the  population  according  toi  their  language, 
but  whereas  the  Austrian  authorities  consider  the 
language  actually  spoken  by  given  persons,  in  their 
daily  intercourse,  as  deciding  their  nationality,  the 


THE    POLISH    COMMONWEALTH        109 

Russian  and  Prussian  authorities  classify  the 
inhabitants  according  to  their  paternal  language. 
Furthermore,  the  Russian  statistics  have  a  separate 
rubric  for  the  Jews,  but  the  Prussian  and  Austrian 
have  not. 

Where  the  Poles  are  concerned  the  language 
spoken  by  the  people  can,  in  most  instances,  be 
taken  as  a  reliable  indication  of  their  nationality  ; 
but  this  does  not  always  apply.  The  historic 
connection  existing  between  the  Polish  nation  and 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  created  a  feeling 
of  *'  religious  nationality  "  in  some  of  the  people. 
Thus  the  Poles  living  in  Ruthenia,  for  instance, 
consider  that  even  though  they  adopt  the  language 
of  the  people  among  whom  they  live,  they  do  not 
lose  their  nationality  as  long  as  they  retain  their 
*' Polish"   faith. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  among  the  Poles 
numerous  Protestants,  Uniats,  Jews,  and  even 
Mohammedans.  The  majority  of  these  non- 
Catholic  Poles  are  of  Polish  origin,  the  others  have 
been  assimilated,  and  although,  in  many  cases,  they 
do  not  employ  the  Polish  language  in  their  daily 
intercourse,  they  none  the  less  consider  themselves 
Poles. 

It  will  be  understood  that  under  the  circumstances 
the  figures  given  in  the  following  pages  cannot  claim 
to  be  absolutely  accurate.  Being  the  results  of 
patient  researches  and  calculations  carried  out  by 
eminent  Polish  scientists,  they  can,  however,  be 
safely  accepted  as  in  no  way  biased  or  exaggerated. 


GERMAN    POLAND 

The  Polish  territories  now  forming  parts  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Prussia  consist  of  tlie  provinces  of 
Posen  and  West  Prussia,  and  parts  of  East  Prussia, 
Pomerania,  and  Silesia. 

In  the  Grandduchy  of  Posen  a  perpetual  conflict 
is  going  on  between  two  nationalities  —  the 
indigenous  Polish  and  the  immigrant  German. 
The  Germans  have  been  numerous  in  these  parts 
even  before  the  partitions  of  Poland,  and,  under 
the  fostering  care  of  the  Government,  they  have 
since  then  greatly  increased,  also  becoming  more 
powerful   and   aggressive. 

The  Poles  represent  about  65  per  cent,  of  the 
entire  population  of  the  province,  and,  notwith- 
standing the  efforts  of  the  Pinissian  authorities  to 
the  contrary,  their  relative  numbers  are  not 
diminishing  anywhere,  and  in  most  districts  are 
steadily  increasing. 

The  proportion  of  Germans  (about  34  per  cent.), 
on  the  other  hand,  is  declining  in  spite  of  all  efforts 
of  the  authorities  to  augment,  or  even  only  maintain, 
their    numbers    by    introducing    German    officials, 

110 


THE    POLISH    COMMONWEALTH        111 

encouraging  the  immigration  of  settlers  from  the 
interior  of  Germany,  etc.  There  is  a  steady- 
outflow  of  Germans  from  this  province  to  the 
agriculturally  less  developed  western  portions  of 
the  kingdom,  which  more  than  counterbalances 
those  endeavours. 

The  proportion  of  the  Poles  is  highest  in  the 
parts  of  the  Duchy  bordering  on  the  Kingdom  of 
Poland,  but  the  districts  where  they  are  in  the 
majority  are  constantly  increasing.  The  best 
illustration  of  their  power  of  resisting  the  Prussian 
policy  of  extermination  is  the  fact  that  during  the 
term  of  twenty  years— from  1890  to  1910 — the 
territory  with  a  Polish  majority  increased  by  about 
850  square  miles. 

The  majority  of  the  Poles  inhabiting  this  province 
are  Roman  Catholics,  while  the  Germans  are— with 
relatively  few  exceptions— Protestants.  The  Polish 
Protestants  inhabit  the  southern  districts  of  the 
province,  and  among  them  cases  of  Germanization 
have,  from  time  to  time,  occurred  ;  on  the  other 
hand,  considerable  numbers  of  German  Catholics 
have  become  Polonized. 

The  Jews,  who  in  1831  represented  67  per  cent, 
of  the  entire  population,  are  steadily  decreasing, 
their  relative  numbers  having  fallen  to  1*3  per 
cent. 

The  Poles  of  the  Duchy  form  a  separate  political 
party,  and  in  times  of  elections  vote  unanimously 
for  the  Polish  candidates,  with  the  exception  of 
a  small   percentage  who  belong  to  the  Socialists. 


112  XRE    POPULATION    OF 

In  East  Prussia  the  southern  districts  were 
occupied  by  the  Poles  from  very  early  times,  and 
numerous  Polish  settlements  were  to  be  found 
scattered  about  in  a  northerly  direction  right  up 
to  the  shores  of  the   Baltic  Sea. 

Being  unorganized  they,  in  many  cases,  easily 
fell  under  the  influence  of  the  German  settlers,  who 
had  the  powerful  organizations  of  German  knights 
at  their  backs.  Their  conversion  to  Protestantism, 
at  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  helped  still  further 
towards  the  denationalization  of  the  Poles  in  East 
Prussia,  by  bringing  them  under  the  Germanizing 
influence  of  the  Lutheran  clergy.  Tthe  Prussian 
authorities,  too,  spare  no  pains  in  their  endea- 
vours to  erase  the  consciousness  of  their  Polish 
nationality  from  the  minds  of  the  people  ;  going 
to  such  ridiculous  extremes  as  oflicially  calling 
them  **  Masovians  "—as  if  the  tribal  name  pre- 
cluded the  wider  national  one  of  ''  Poles  " — 
and  calling  the  Polish  language  the  *'  Masovian " 
language. 

In  these  circumstances  it  is  not  astonishing  that 
in  some  districts  of  East  Prussia  the  percentage 
of  the  Polish  population  is  decreasing.  Rather  is 
it  surprising  that  the  Poles  should  still  hold 
extensive  areas  of  the  province,  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  they  have  no  leaders,  and  that  Church, 
School,  and  Government  combine  in  endeavouring 
to  denationalize  them. 

East  Prussia  contains  besides  Prussian  Masovia, 
the    districts    of    Ermeland,    taken    from    Poland 


THE    POLISH    COMMONWEALTH        113 

at  the  time  of  the  first  partition.  The  Poles 
inhabit  the  southern  parts  of  this  territory,  the 
Germans  the  northern,  and  both  nationalities 
belong  to   the   Roman  Catholic  Church. 

The  Poles  represent  a  little  over  47  per  cent, 
of  the  entire  population  of  East  Prussia,  but  it 
must  not  be  forgotten  that— the  province  being 
sparsely  populated— the  to^is  tend  artificially  to 
lower  their  relative  numbers.  In  the  rural  districts 
the  proportion  of  the  Poles  is  nearly  62  per  cent., 
but  the  towns,  being  only  administrative  centres, 
have  an  almost  entirely  German  population, 
composed  mainly  of  Government  and  railway 
officials— with  their  families— the  garrisons,  etc. 

West  Prussia  has  retained  its  Polish  character 
in  a  much  higher  degree  than  the  last-named 
province,  although  here  as  elsewhere  the  Prussian 
authorities  have  spared  no  effort  to  weaken  the 
Polish  element.  Being  organized,  the  Poles  of  this 
province  were,  however,  able  to  offer  a  stronger 
resistance  to  Germanizing  influences  than  in  East 
Prussia,  and  in  spite  of  expropriations,  German 
colonization,  Prussian  school  politics,  prohibitions 
against  the  use  of  the  Polish  language,  etc.,  the 
percentage  of  the  Polish  population  is  increasmg. 
The  relative  numbers  of  the  Germans,  on  the 
contrary,  are  declining,  in  consequence  of  the 
emigration  of  large,  numbers  to  the  industrial 
western  districts  of  Germany. 

The   Pole;s   are   most  numerous  in  the  districts 

8 


114  THE    POPULATION    OF 

adjoining  the  Kingdom  of  Poland,  where  in  some 
parts  they  represent  about  80  per  cent,  of  the  entire 
population,  but  the  territories  with  a  Polish 
majority  (averaging  60  per  cent.)  stretch  right  up 
to  the  Baltic  Sea,  thus  linking  up  the  main  portion 
of  the  Polish  territories  with  the  coast. 

The  proportion  of  the  Polish  inhabitants  to  the 
entire  population  of  West  Prussia  is  35J  per  cent. 
In  this  province  the  towns  are  again  little  more 
than  administrative  centres,  and  as  the  Poles  are 
debarred  from  all  appointments  under  the  Govern- 
ment, on  the  railways,  etc.,  their  population  is 
almost   entirely    German. 

In  an  agricultural  country  like  West  Prussia  the 
factor  deciding  its  national  character  is,  however, 
the  rural  population,  and  of  this  about  50  per  cent, 
is   Polish. 

The  northern  portion  of  the  province,  bordering 
on  the  sea,  is  inhabited  by  the  Cassovians,  a  sturdy 
Polish  tribe  which  also  inhabits  a  portion  of  the 
adjoining  provinces  of  Pomerania.  These  speak  a 
dialect  of  their  own  which  is,  however,  undoubtedly 
of  Polish  origin,  although  some  German  scientists 
have  tried  to  prove  the  contrary.  That  the  senti- 
ments of  the  Cassovians  are  entirely  Polish  is 
proved  by  the  fact  that  since  1871  they  have  never 
returned  any  other  than  Polish  deputies  to  the 
German  Parliament- 
It  may  be  mentioned  here  that,  for  the  Poles, 
the  elections  in  these  provinces  mean  a  desperate 
fight    for    self-preservation,    as    the    governmental 


THE    POLISH    COMMONWEALTH        115 

parties  employ  all  means  in  their  power  to 
increase  their  own  votes  to  the  detriment  of  the 
Poles.  They  do  not  recoil  even  from  such 
practices  as  omitting  names  from  the  lists  of  voters, 
cancelling  votes,  hindering  electioneering,  bringing 
Government  pressure  to  bear  on  the  voters,  etc. 

For  West  Prussia  its  separation  from  the  rest  of 
Poland  has  had  most  unfortunate  results,  for 
whereas  in  former  times  all  the  extensive  export 
trade  of  the  Commonwealth  passed  along  its  roads 
and  great  waterway— the  Vistula — the  province  now 
is  nothing  more  than  a  quiet,  out-of-the-way  corner 
on  the  outskirts  of  Prussia.  Danzig,  too,  once  a 
city  of  great  importance  as  the  granary  of  Europe, 
has  sunk  to  the  level  of  a  third-rate  seaport 
town. 

Silesia  fell  away  from  the  Commonwealth  as 
esivly  as  the  Middle  Ages,  when  the  upper  classes 
of  its  inhabitants  became  voluntarily  Germanized. 
At  that  time  large  numbers  of  German  settlers  took 
up  their  abode  in  this  province,  and  only  the 
population  of  the  districts  along  the  upper  reaches 
of  the  Oder— especially  of  Upper  Silesia,  as  those 
on  its  right  bank  are  called — remained  Polish.  In 
spite  of  its  Polish  population  even  this  territory 
was,  however,  not  Polish  from  an  intellectual  point 
of  view^,  as  both  the  towns  and  the  seats  of  the 
nobility  diffused  an   alien  civilization. 

The  development  of  the  mining  industry,  and 
introduction   of   compulsory    education    roused   the 


116  THE    POPULATION    OE 

rural  population  of  Upper  Silesia,  a  national 
revival  was  started,  relations  with  the  main  body 
of  the  Polish  nation  were  re-established,  and  an 
intellectual  class  evolved.  At  present,  having 
founded,  besides,  a  national  Press,  the  people 
of  Upper  Silesia  are  developing  on  Polish 
lines. 

The  Poles  represent  57  per  cent,  of  the  entire 
population  of  Upper  Silesia  ;  the  remainder,  with 
the  exception  of  an  insignificant  number  of 
Bohemians,  being  German.  If,  however,  four 
districts  in  the  north-eastern  portion  of  the  regency 
— which  contain  only  isolated  Polish  parishes — are 
left  out  of  account,  the  proportion  of  the  Poles 
to  the  population  of  the  remaining  territories  is 
64  per  cent.  To  counterbalance  the  four  districts 
alluded  to,  large  numbers  of  Poles  are  to  be 
found  in  the  regency  of  Breslau,  in  Central 
Silesia. 

As  the  Polish  population  of  Upper  Silesia  was 
formerly  in  a  considerably  greater  majority,  it 
might  appear  that  its  numbers  are  declining  ;  but 
that  is  not  the  case.  The  relative  decrease  is  due 
to  the  influx  of  enormous  numbers  of  Germans, 
especially  to  the  mining  districts,  and  the 
discouragement— by  means  of  legislative  restrictions 
and  petty  molestations— of  the  immigration  of  Poles 
from   Galicia   and   the   Kingdom  of  Poland. 

Notwithstanding  all  this  Upper  Silesia  has  not 
lost  its  Polish  character,  and  the  national  move- 
ment has  made  such  good  progress  that  the  regency 


THE    POLISH    COMMONWEALTH        117 

is  now  considered  one  of  the  most  loyal  of  Polish 
territories. 

With  the  exception  of  one  small  district,  the 
inhabitants  of  which  are  Protestants,  the  popula- 
tion of  Upper  Silesia— Polish  and  German  alike — 
belongs  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 


AUSTRIAN  POLAND 

Bordering  on  the  last-named  Prussian  province 
are  the  Polish  territories  belonging,  since  1815,  to 
Austria,  which  consist  of  Galicia  and  Austrian 
Silesia. 

Austrian  Silesia  is  one  of  the  Austrian  crown - 
lands,  which  means  that  in  all  local  matters  it 
is  self-governing.  This  would  be  very  advantageous 
to  the  Poles  if  they  constituted  the  entire  population  ; 
but  unfortunately  they  do  not.  The  province  is 
inhabited  by  three  different  nationalities :  Poles, 
Germans,  and  Bohemians,  and  consists,  ethno- 
graphically,  of  two  distinct  parts— a  Polish  and  a 
German  area. 

The  Poles  represent  61  per  cent,  of  the  entire 
population  in  the  Polish,  and  J  per  cent,  in  the 
German  area  ;  the  Germans  and  Bohemians  15  and 
24  per  cent,  respectively  in  the  Polish,  79  and 
20  per  cent,  in  the  German  area. 

The  prevailing  religion  in  Austrian  Silesia  is  the 
Roman  Catholic,  the  Protestants  amounting  to  only 
about  23  per  cent,  of  the  entire  population  ;  but 
these    are     almost    exclusively     Poles— indeed    the 

118 


THE    POLISH    COMMONWEALTH        119 

Reformed  Church  in  this  province  has  never  been 
anything   but    Polish. 

In  consequence  of  the  Polish  territories  being 
united  with  the  German,  all  questions  concerning 
them  are  decided  by  the  German  parliamentary 
majority.  The  strength  of  the  Germans  is  further 
increased  by  the  Austrian  parliamentary  system, 
which  is  such  that  the  Germans,  who  represent 
45  per  cent,  of  the  entire  population,  elect  80  per 
cent,  of  the  deputies  representing  that  province  in 
the  Austrian  Parliament. 

Appointments  under  the  Government  and  local 
authorities  are,  in  this  province,  given  almost 
exclusively  to  Germans  ;  the  greater  part  of  the 
land  is  owned  by  Germans  ;  and  every  effort  is 
made  to  oust  the  Poles. 

Not  only  the  Germans,  but  also  the  Bohemians 
in  the  Polish  districts  of  Austrian  Silesia,  wield 
a  power  which  is  out  of  proportion  to  their 
numbers.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  in  the  mining 
districts— the  richest  and  most  densely  populated 
parts  of  the  province — nearly  all  important  posts 
are  held  by  Bohemians,  who  also  almost  exclusively 
practise  the  learned  professions.  The  Bohemians, 
no  less  than  the  Germans,  make  every  effort  to 
obtain  control  of  the  communal  authorities,  schools, 
and   other   public   institutions. 

As  the  Poles  in  Austrian  Silesia  belong  entirely 
to  the  lower  classes— the  upper  classes,  here  as  in 
Prussian  Silesia,  having  become  Germanized  during 
the  Middle  Ages— they  have  had  a  hard  struggle  to 


120  THE    POPULATION    OF 

resist  the  combined  efforts  of  the  Germans  and 
Bohemians  to  denationalize  them.  They  have, 
however,  by  now  succeeded  in  overcoming  all 
difficulties  placed  in  their  way,  and  created  a  strong 
national  Press,  legal  self-defence  organizations, 
and  an  excellent  educational  system.  The  loss  of 
their  national  individuality  is  therefore  no  longer 
to  be  feared. 

By  far  the  most  extensive  of  the  Polish  territories 
under  Austrian  domination,  are  those  Which 
constitute  the  province  of  Galicia. 

In  this  portion  of  Poland  the  Poles  enjoy  more 
liberty  than  they  are  allowed  in  any  other ;  not 
only  have  they  here  two  Polish  universities  and 
Polish  schools,  but  all  official  appointments  are 
open  to  them,  and  Polish  is  the  official  language 
of  the  province.  The  army  also  is  Polish,  up  to  a 
certain  point,  as  the  Polish  conscripts  are  not  sent 
to  other  provinces  for  the  time  of  their  military 
service— as  is  the  case  in  the  Russian  and  Prussian 
parts  of  Poland— but  are  allotted  to  garrisons 
in  Galicia.  The  officers  are,  however,  mostly 
Austrians. 

Galicia  can  be  divided  into  two  areas— Western 
Galicia,  the  population  of  which  is  almost  entirely 
Polish,  and  Eastern  Galicia,  where  the  Ruthenians 
are  in  a  majority. 

Besides  these  two  nationalities  both  divisions  of 
the  province  contain  a  considerable  percentage  of 
Jews,  who  here,  as  in  other  parts  of  the  former 
Commonwealth,   must   be    regarded   as   a   separate 


THE    POLISH    COMMONWEALTH        121 

nationality.  They  speak,  among  themselves,  a 
language  of  their  own,''  have  their  own  schools, 
and  generally  lead  a  life  apart,  taking  no  share 
in  Polish  affairs  except  in  so  far  as  they  touch 
purely  Jewish  interests.  The  enormous  numbers 
of  these  poor  Jews  who,  centuries  ago,  settled  down 
here  when  hunted  out  of  other  parts  of  Europe, 
and  have  to  this  day  retained  many  of  their 
mediaeval  customs  and  superstitions,  are  a 
peculiarity  of  Poland. 

The  majority  of  the  educated  Jews,  however, 
consider  themselves  Poles  and  take  an  active 
share  in  all  national  affairs.  Many  of  these 
assimilated  Jews  have  risen  to  the  highest  positions 
in  commercial,  industrial,  and  professional  life,  and 
their  numbers   are  constantly  increasing. 

In  Western  Galicia  the  population  is  almost 
entirely  Polish,  as  the  Poles,  who  have  increased 
by  very  nearly  2  per  cent,  during  the  last  thirty 
years,  represent  about  90  per  cent,  of  the  total 
numbers.  The  Ruthenians  amount  to  about  2| 
per  cent.,  and  the  rest  of  the  population— after 
deducting  about  1  per  cent,  of  Germans— consists 
of  unassimilated  Jews    (about  6J  per  cent.). 

Whereas  the  percentage  of  the  Ruthenians 
remains  stationary,  and  the  Germans  are  decreas- 
ing—not only  relatively  but  in  actual  numbers— 
the  Poles  are  increasing  both  numerically  and' 
relatively. 

'  "  Yiddish,"  a  sort  of  corrupt  German  mixed  with  Hebrew. 


122  THE    POPULATION    OF 

Most  of  the  Ruthenians  inhabit  the  eastern  parts 
of  Western  Galicia,  and  the  mountainous  districts 
bordering  on  Hungary,  where  their  numbers  amount 
in  some  parts  to  25  per  cent,  of  the  entire  popula- 
tion. 

The  majority  of  the  Jews  inhabit  the  towns, 
where  also  most  of  the  Gennan  inhabitants  of  the 
province   are   to   be   found. 

In  Eastern  Galicia  the  nationalities  are  very 
mixed,  for  although  on  the  whole  the  Ruthenians 
predominate,  there  are  districts  in  which  the  Poles 
are  in  a  decided  majority.  Generally  speaking  the 
western  districts  are  more  Polish  and  the  eastern 
more  Ruthenian,  but  the  latter  nationality  nowhere 
represents  more  than  80  per  cent,  of  the  local 
population.  The  Poles,  on  the  other  hand,  whose 
numbers  amount  to  about  35  per  cent,  of  the  entire 
population  of  Eastern  Galicia,  represent  in  some 
parts  of  the  western  districts  of  the  province  as 
much  as  88  per  cent.  They  are  also  very  numerous 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Lemberg,  where  their 
numbers  amount  to  85  per  cent.,  and,  still  farther 
east,  in  the  exceedingly  fertile  districts  of  Galician 
Podolia.  Here,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Tarnopol, 
Skalat,  and  Trembovla,  the  Poles  represent  52  per 
cent,  of  the  entire  population  of  these  districts, 
and  the  proportion  is  not  much  lower  in  other 
parts    of   this    territory. 

The  Jews  are  more  numerous  in  Eastern  Galicia 
than    in    the    western    portion    of    the    province, 


thp:  polish  commonwealth      123 

representing  about  12  per  cent,  of  the  entire 
population  ;  but  this  figure  includes  the  assimilated 
minority  who,  from  the  point  of  view  of  nationality, 
must  be   regarded   as   Poles. 

The  nineteenth  century  saw  a  revival  of  the 
national  spirit  among  the  Ruthenians  who  had, 
through  the  popularization  of  education,  evolved 
an  intellectual   class   of  their   own. 

Unfortunately  the  Ruthenian  national  movement 
is  too  young  for  its  adherents  to  have  a  well- 
defined  programme.  One  section  claims  Eastern 
Galicia  exclusively  for  the  Ruthenians,  and  has 
in  some  instances — encouraged  by  the  Austrian 
Government— taken  up  a  hostile  attitude  towards 
the  Poles. 

Another  section  of  the  Ruthenian  population 
desires  union  with  Russia.  This  section  has  com- 
paratively very  few  adherents,  and  its  ambition  is 
not  likely  to  be  realized,  as  the  majority  of  the 
Ruthenians  are  strongly  opposed  to  the  idea  on 
religious  grounds. 

The  Ruthenians  of  Galicia  are  nearly  all  Uniats, 
i.e.  members  of  that  portion  of  the  Greek  Church 
which  in  1595  became  united  with  the  See  of  Rome. 
A  very  small  proportion  (003  per  cent.)  belong 
to  the  independent  Greek  communion,  or  Eastern 
Church,  which  must  not  be  confounded  with  the 
Russian  Orthodox  Church. 

There  is,  from  a  national  point  of  view,  a  certain 
resemblance  between  Silesia  and  Eastern  Galicia, 
as  the  Ruthenians  in  the  latter  province— like  the 


124       THE    POLISH    COMMONWEALTH 

Poles  in  the  former— Helong  almost  exclusively  to 
the  rural,  intellectually  and  materially  less  favoured 
portion  of  the  population. 

The  Ruthenians  are  of  higher  stature  than  the 
Poles  and  have  somewhat  darker  hair  and  eyes, 
which  does  not  mean,  however,  that  they  are  dark- 
complexioned.  On  the  contrary,  the  light  type  is 
in  a  slight  majority  ;  very  dark  people  are  rare 
among  both  Poles  and  Ruthenians. 


RUSSIAN   POLAND 

The  Polish  territories  which  form  part  of  the 
Russian  Possessions  consist  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Poland  (a  name  created  in  1815),  Lithuania, 
Volhynia,  Podolia,  and  the  Ukraina. 

In  the  Kingdom  of  Poland  the  majority  of  the 
inhabitants  are  of  Polish  nationality  ;  but  besides 
this  principal  national  group  there  are  five 
others,  namely  :  the  Lithuanian,  Jewish,  German, 
Ruthenian,   and  Russian  groups. 

Classified  according  to  religion  the  population 
falls  into  four  groups  :  the  great  Roman  Catholic 
majority,  the  comparatively  small  Jewish  group, 
and  the  insignificant  Protestant  and  Russian 
Orthodox  groups. 

The  majority  of  the  Poles  belong  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  faith,  as  also  do  the  Lithuanians— the  latter 
almost  without  exception,  although  a  small  number 
are  to   this   day  Mohammedans. 

To  the  Russian  Orthodox  faith  belong  the 
Russians  and  Ruthenians ;  the  latter  only  since 
1875  when  the  Uniat  Church,  of  which  they  were 
members,  was  abolished  by  the  Government,  and  its 
adherents  enrolled,  against  their  will,  as  members 
of  the   Orthodox   Church.     Since  the  publication, 

125 


126  THE    POPULATION    OF 

in  1905,  of  the  ukase  granting  religious  freedom 
to  all  Russian  subjects,  large  numbers  of  the 
Ruthenians  have  joined  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

The  Germans  in  the  Kingdom  are  nearly  all 
Protestants,  the  Catholics  among  them  forming  a 
small  minority.  Among  the  Protestants  afe  also 
to  be  found  a  good  many  Poles,  and  still  more 
among  the  Jews,  of  whom  considerable  numbers 
have  become  assimilated — at  least  as  far  as  language 
is  concerned.  A  small  percentage  of  Poles  is  to 
be  found  even  among  the  members  of  the  Russian 
Orthodox  Church. 

The  only  census  taken  in  the  Kingdom  of  Poland 
on  modern  lines  was  the  census  of  1897,  and  that, 
being  a  first  attempt,  could  not  in  any  case  have 
given  unassailable  results.  They  were  made  the 
more  unreliable  by  the  fact  that  the  census  was  not 
by  any  means  carried  out  on  impartial  lines,  the 
tendency  being,  on  the  contrary,  to  make  the 
numbers  of  the  Poles  appear  as  small  as  possible. 

A  proof  of  the  unreliability  of  the  figures 
obtained,  with  regard  to  nationality,  is  the  fact 
that  the  numbers  of  the  Roman  Catholics  coincide 
with  the  total  numbers  of  Poles  and  Lithuanians. 
In  reality  the  Poles  are  much  more  numerous,  as 
large  numbers  are  members  of  other  religious 
communities.  These  would,  however,  appear  to 
have  been  classified  as  Germans  if  they  were 
Protestants,  Jews  if  they  professed  the  Jewish  faith, 
and  Ruthenians  or  Russians  if  they  belonged  to 
the  Russian  Church.     Even  the  Catholic  Poles  were 


THE    POLISH    COMxMONWEALTH        127 

not  all  classified  as  such,  a  considerable  proportion 
appearing   as   Lithuanians. 

Such  a  system  of  classification  would  naturally 
tend  to  lower  the  Polish  majority,  which  is  still 
further  decreased  by  the  inclusion  of  the  military 
population.  As  the  garrisons  are  composed  entirely 
of  men  from  non -Polish  districts,  whilst  the  Poles 
are  sent  to  Russia  for  the  time  of  their  military 
service,  the  relative  numbers  of  the  Poles  are  thus 
twice  reduced. 

The  latest  figures  obtainable  on  the  population 
of  the  Kingdom  of  Poland  are  those  issued  by 
the  Warsaw  Statistical  Committee  for  1913j 
according  to  which,  after  deducting  the  garrisons, 
the  proportions  of  the  various  religious  communi- 
ties to  the  entire  population  were  as  follows : 
Roman  Catholics  76  per  cent.,  Jews  15  per  cent., 
Protestants  5* 3  per  cent..  Orthodox  3-7  per  cent. 
These   figures    are,   however,   not   quite   reliable. 

According  to  the  calculations  of  the  best 
authorities,  the  various  nationalities  in  the  Kingdom 
of  Poland  were  in  1910  represented  in  the  following 
proportions  :  Poles  80  per  cent.,  Jews  11  per  cent., 
Germans  4  per  cent.,  Lithuanians  23  per  cent., 
Ruthejtiians   2  per   cent.,  Russians   07  per  cent. 

Ruthenian  population  of  the  Kingdom  is  to 
be  found  mainly  in  the  districts  of  the  governments 
of  Lublin  and  Siedltse  bordering  on  Volhynia. 
These  districts  have  of  recent  years  been  incor- 
porated in  the  newly  formed  government  of 
Chelm. 


128  T«HE    RORULATION    OE 

The  Lithuanians  inhabit  the  northern  portion  of 
the  government  of  Suvalki— the  north-eastern  part 
of  the  Kingdom.  This  territory  stretches  along  the 
left  bank  of  the  Niemen  to  within  no  great  distance 
of  the  sea,  and  it  may  be  mentioned  that  the 
Prussian  districts  situated  on  that  river  are  also 
inhabited  by   Lithuanians. 

Considerable  numbers  of  German  settlers  are  to 
be  found  in  the  governments  of  Suvalki  and  Chelm, 
amounting  in  the  former  to  about  5 J  per  cent,  of 
the  entire  population.  In  the  government  of  Chelm 
the  Germans  are,  with  few  exceptions,  all  to  be 
found  in  the  vicinity  of  the  town  of  that  name, 
where  they  represent  about  12|  per  cent,  of  the 
inhabitants.  Besides  in  the  governments  mentioned, 
considerable  numbers  of  Germans  are  to  be  found 
in  those  of  Plotsk,  Warsaw,  Kalish,  and  Piotrkov. 
In  the  district  of  Lodz  (in  the  last-named  govern- 
ment) the  numbers  of  the  Germans  amount  to  as 
much  as  26  per  cent,  of  the  local  population. 

The  Jews  are  most  numerous  in  the  city  of 
Warsaw,  where  they  represent  nearly  37  per  cent, 
of  the  inhabitants,  although  their  numbers  for  the 
whole  government  of  Warsaw  do  not  amount  to 
more  than  11'4  per  cent.  In  proportion  to  the 
population  of  the  whole  province  the  Jews  are  most 
numerous  in  the  governments  of  Lomza,  Siedltse, 
and  Piotrkov,  where  they  represent  on  an  average 
about  16  per  cent,  of  the  entire  population.  The 
largest  proportion  of  Jews  is  to  be  found  in  the 
small     provincial     towns,    where    their    numbers 


THE    POLISH    COMMONWEALTH        129 

amount  to  45  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of 
inhabitants. 

The  Jewish  population  of  the  Kingdom  of  Poland 
—and  more  especially  of  Warsaw — has  greatly, 
increased  of  recent  years  in  consequence  of  the 
expulsion  of  great  numbers  of  Jews  from  Russia. 
Besides  this  economic  conditions  have  forced  a  great 
many,  Jews  to  emigrate  from  Lithuania,  and  the 
majority  of  these  too  have  settled  down  in  Poland, 
chiefly  in  Warsaw. 

The  influx  of  great  numbers  of  a  foreign  element, 
.with  alien  sympathies  and  ideals,  could  not  fail 
to  have  unpleasant  results,  and  has  led  to  Polono- 
Jewish  conflicts. 

The  Russians  in  Roland  are  not  only  an 
immigrant,  but  also,  for  the  greater  part,  a 
migratory  population,  consisting  chiefly  of  Govern- 
ment officials  of  all  classes,  with  their  families  ;  the 
families  of  the  military ;  and  representatives  of 
Russian  business  firms.  For  the  higher  officials 
service  in  Poland  is  merely  a  step  to  promotion 
in  the  official  hierarchy  of  the  empire,  but  for  all 
it  means  a  better  income,  as  Government  officials 
*'  of  Russian  origin "  receive,  when  serving  in 
Poland,  comparatively  large  allowances  in  addition 
to  their  salaries. 

The  population  of  Lithuania  consists  of 
Poles,  Lithuanians,  Ruthenians,  White -Ruthenians, 
Russians,   Letts,   and   Jews. 

This  province  was  among  the  first  of  the  Polish 


130  THE    POPULATION    OR 

territories  to  be  detached  from  the  Commonwealth, 
and  it  is  here  that  the  Polish  nation  has  suffered 
the  greatest  losses. 

The  civilization  of  Lithuania  is  Polish,  and  the 
Poles  formerly  constituted  a  very  large  and  impor- 
tant part  of  the  population  ;  but  their  numbers 
have  been  greatly  reduced  by  the  abolition  of  the 
Uniat  Church,  and  in  consequence  of  the  deporta- 
tion of  great  numbers  of  Poles,  and  confiscation 
of  Polish  territory,  after  the  insurrection  of  1863. 
Everything  Polish  was  then  banned,  Polish  schools, 
theatres,  the  Press,  and  even  shop  signs  were 
suppressed,  and  the  use  of  the  Polish  language 
prohibited. 

In  Lithuania  it  is  even  more  difficult  than  in 
the  Kingdom  to  obtain  accurate  statistical  infor- 
mation regarding  the  nationalities  of  the  population, 
as  even  the  official  figures  of  the  various 
Government  departments  vary  considerably.  For 
instance,  whereas  the  Orthodox  population  of  Vilno, 
according  to  the  census  returns,  numbered  14,312 
in  1897,  the  official  figure  for  1909  was  27,619, 
by  which  it  would  appear  that  this  section  of  the 
population  of  Vilno  had,  in  the  short  time  of  twelve 
years,  nearly  doubled.  The  Consistory  of  the 
Orthodox  Church,  on  the  other  hand,  which  surely 
is  the  best  authority  on  the  subject,  gave  the 
numbers  for  1909  as  amounting  to  6,522,  including 
361  members  of  the  Old-Orthodox  faith— an  inde- 
pendent sect. 
.    Another  illustration  of  the  unreliability  of  official 


THE    POLISH    COxMMONWEALTH        131 

figures  is  tiie  district  of  Sokol,  wliicli  borders  on 
tlie  Kingdom  and  is  undoubtedly,  ethnographically, 
Polish  territory.  According  to  the  census  of  1897 
the  Polish  population  of  this  district  numbered, 
at  that  time,  1,273  souls,  and  for  1909  the  official 
figure  was  1,047,  but  a  petition  presented  in  1905 
to  Count  Witte  by  the  Polish  inhabitants  of  the 
district  contained  11,653  signatures. 

The  above  example  suQices  to  show  that  .the 
majority  of  the  Poles  must,  in  the  official  statistics, 
have  been  classified  among  other  nationalities,  and 
the  statistics  on  religions  give  some  indication  where 
to  look  for  them. 

According  to  calculations  based  on  information 
drawn  from  various  official  sources,  the  proportion 
of  Poles  to  the  entire  population  in  the  governments 
of  Lithuania  was,  in  1909,  as  follows  :  Kovno,  8 
per  cent.,  .Vilno  47*  1  per  cent.,  Grodno  253  per. 
cent.,  Minsk  8*4  per  cent.,  Vitebsk  7*9  per  cent., 
Mohilev  3" 3  per  cent.  These  figures  appear  in 
many  instances  to  be  considerably  below  the  real 
percentage  ;  according  to  the  calculations  of  Polish 
statisticians  the  Poles  in  the  government  of  Kovno, 
for  instance,  actually  represented  11*4  per  cent,  of 
the  entire   population. 

In  one-half  the  districts  of  Lithuania  the  Poles 
are  more  numerous  than  any  of  the  other  nation- 
alities inhabiting  them— in  a  few  cases  representing 
as  much  as  71  per  cent,  of  the  local  population— 
and  in  all  portions  of  the  territory  they  constitute 
an  important  section.  '^    ..  ,     ,.  . 


132  THE    POPULATION    OE 

The  Lithuanians  represent  above  46  per  cent, 
of  the  entire  population  of  Lithuania,  and  are  most 
numerous  in  the  government  of  Kovno  where  their 
numbers  amount  to  66  per  cent.  Considerable 
numbers  of  Lithuanians  are  also  to  be  found  in 
the  neighbouring  province  of  Courland,  and  in  East 
Prussia. 

The  majority  of  the  White-Ruthenians  inhabit  the 
governments  of  Minsk  and  Mohilev,  and  the  eastern 
part  of  the  Yitebsk  government,  Where  they,  consti- 
tute about  66  per  cent,  of  the  population.  These 
districts  are  very,  thinly  populated— especially 
Polesia— the  soil  being  poor,  and  th-e  climatic  condi- 
tions unfavourable  to  its  cultivation  on  an  extensive 
scale.  The  inhabitants  are  in  a  very  backward 
state  of  civilization,  only  17  per  cent,  being  able 
to  read  or  write.  The  proportion  of  the  White- 
Ruthenians  to  the  entire  population  of  Lithuania  is 
'43  per  cent. 

The  Letts  inhabit  the  western  portion  of  the 
government  of  Vitebsk  (Polish  Livonia)  and  the 
eastern  part  of  Courland.  They  differ  from  the 
other  Letts  Who  inhabit  the  rest  of  Courland  and 
the  formerly  Swedish  part  of  Livonia  (with  whom 
they  have  little  intercourse)  in  that  they  are  Roman 
Catholics.  These  Lithuanian  Letts  call  themselves 
Lathgolians  ;  they  have  a  local  dialect,  use  Roman 
characters  in  writing— whereas  the  other  Letts, 
having  cx)me  completely  under  German  influence, 
employ  German  characters— and  make  use  of  the 
Polish  language  in  their  prayers.    The  Lathgolians 


THE    POLISH    COMMONWEALTH        133 

represent  about  48  per  cent,  of  the  entire  popula- 
tion of  the  districts  they  inhabit,  and  about  18  per, 
cent,  of  the  population  of  the  government  of  Vitebsk. 

The  Jews  in  Lithuania  amount  to  about  14  per 
cent,  of  the  entire  population,  and  are  to  be  found 
in  all  parts  of  the  province,  chiefly  in  the  towns. 
In  consequence  of  unfavourable  economic  condi- 
tions large  numbers  of  Jews  emigrate,  some  to  the 
Kingdom  of  Poland,  the  majority  to  America,  and 
the  inhabitants  of  some  of  the  small  towns  in 
Lithuania  maintain  themselves  almost  entirely  on 
the  money  sent  them  by  the  emigrants. 

The  Mohammedans  number  altogether  only  about 
10,000,  or  009  per  cent,  of  the  entire  population  of 
Lithuania.  They  are  descended  from  Tartars  who, 
invited  ih  the  Middle  Ages  by  the  Grand  Duke^  Witold 
to  assist  him  in  his  wars  with  the  German  knights, 
afterwards  settled  down  here.  They  intermarried 
with  the  local  inhabitants,  and  the  members  of 
the  upper  classes  among  them  adopted  the  Polish 
language  and  became  loyal  Poles.  The  others 
adopted  either  the  Lithuanian  or  Ruthenian  tongue, 
according  to  the  district  in  which  they  settled  down'. 

In  physical  proportions  the  Letts  greatly 
resemble  the  Poles,  but  they  have  darker  hair  and 
eyes— the  latter  frequently  being  greenish  in  colour. 
The  Lithuanians  are  somiewhat  taller  than  the  Letts, 
an<d  the  majority  are  fair -haired  and  have  light 
blue  or  grey  eyes,  in  which  respect  they  resemble 
the  Poles.  The  Mohammedans  are  shorter  and 
of   slighter    build    than    the    other    inhabitants    of 


134  THE    POPULATION    OF 

Lithuania,     and     thej^     are     also     of     a     darker 
complexion. 


The  inhabitants  of  the  populous  provinces  of 
VoLHYNiA,  PoDOLiA,  and  the  Ukraina— famous  for 
the  fertility  of  their  soil— are  engaged  mostly  in 
agricultural  pursuits,  three-fourths  of  the  population 
heing  either  landowners  or  peasants. 

The  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  these  provinces 
are  Ruthenians,  but  they  owe  their  development 
in  a  great  measure  to  the  Poles.  The  latter  have 
here  played  a  similar  part  to  that  of  the  Swedes 
in  Finland,  having  organized  the  country  politically, 
economically,  and  socially.  The  influence  of  the 
Poles  is  therefore  not  in  proportion  to  their 
numbers,  although  these  are  by  no  means  incon- 
siderable. 

The  Ruthenians  still  apply  the  name  *'  Poland  " 
to  all  the  territories  west  of  the  Dnieper,  and 
consider  the  Poles  as  children  of  the  soil  equally 
with  themselves.  Their  favourite  formula  to  define 
their  own  nationality  was  *'  gente  Ruthenus,  natione 
Polonus." 

Notwithstanding  the  length  of  time  (120  years) 
that  Volhynia,  Podolia,  and  the  Ukraina  have  been 
separated  from  Poland,  all  efforts  to  efface  their 
Polish  character  have  been  in  vain.  Even  the 
confiscation,  on  a  large  scale,  of  Polish  property, 
and  deportation  of  great  numbers  of  Poles  after 
the  revolutions  of  1831  and  1863,  have  not  been 
able  to  effect  that  aim. 


THE    POLISH    COMMONWEALTH        135 

The  numbers  of  thfe  Poles  constitute  about  7| 
per  cent,  of  the  population  of  these  provinces,  and 
they  are  most  numerous  in  Volhynia,  where  they 
represent  10|  per  cent.  The  majority  are  landed 
proprietors,  owning  in  some  districts  as  much  as 
90  per  cent,  of  the  areas  covered  by  the  large 
estates,  and  representing  a  very  valuable  element, 
as  they  are  very  progressive,  and  introduce  all  the 
latest  agricultural  improvements  into  the  country. 

Of  the  Whole  area  covered  by  the  nine  govern- 
ments of  Lithuania  and  Ruthenia  47  per  cent, 
is  in  the  hands  of  the  Poles.  A  good  many 
Poles  are  to  be  found  too  among  the  peasantry, 
especially  in  the  districts  bordering  on  Galicia  (and 
in  northern  Podolia  generally)  as  well  as  in 
iVolhynia.  Many  of  these  Polish  peasants  are  the 
descendants  of  nobles  who  were  degraded  after  the 
revolution  of  1831. 

The  Poles  also  form  an  important  section  of 
the  urban  population  of  these  provinces— as  they 
represent  the  intellectual  element— but  the  bulk  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  towns  is  composed  of  Jews, 
who  amount  to  nearly  13  per  cent,  of  the  popula- 
tion of  Volhynia,  Podolia,  and  the  Ukraina. 

The  towns,  being  the  administrative  centres  of 
the  Russian  authorities,  also  contain  the  greater 
part  of  the  Russian  population  of  these  provinces- 
consisting,   again,   mostly   of  Government  officials. 

As  will  be  seen  by  the  foregoing,  the  territories 
formerly  constituting  the  Common vv^ealth  of  Poland 


136  THE    POPULATION    OR  , 

—together  with  the  Polish  parts  of  Silesia,  Prussia, 
and  Upper  Hungary— possess  manyi  characteristic 
features.  The  Poles  are  numerous  in  all  parts 
of  these  territories,  in  many  districts  forming  an 
overwhelming  majority.  [What  is  more,  they  have 
everywhere  left  indelible  marks  of  their  civiliza- 
tion, which  all  the  efforts  of  the  ruling  powers 
have  not  been  able  to  efface,  even  in  the  districts 
where  the   Poles   are  least  numerous.  i 

So  long  as  the  territories  belonged  to  Poland 
harmony  prevailed  among  all  the  nationalities 
inhabiting  them— complications  have  arisen  only 
since  the  partitions  of  Poland,  which  have 
had  nothing  but  painful  consequences  for  the 
country. 

It  is  to  Ke  hoped  that  the  good  relations  between 
all  these  nationalities,  apart  from  small  local 
quarrels  which  are  bound  to  arrive  whenever  two 
or  more  nationalities  inhabit  the  same  territory, 
iwill  be  maintained  and  that  they  will  all  have  an 
opportunity  of  a  free  national  development.  There 
is  a  community  of  interest  between  the  Poles, 
Lithuanians,  and  Ruthenians.  They  have  been 
bound  together  for,  centuries.  Poland  cannot  look 
indifferently  on  the  fate  of  its  neighbours.  An 
independent  Poland  would  mean  a  free  Lithuania 
and  a  free  Ruthenia. 

A  century  and  a  half  of  oppression  have  not  been 
able  to  destroy  the  vitality  or  moral  strength  of  the 
Polish  people.  Every  newi  endeavour  to  crush  them" 
has    only    strengthened    their    determination    and 


THE    POLISH    COMMONWEALTH        137 

power  of  endurance— and  the  country  is  as  Polish 
as  ever. 

That  the  present  war  can  have  only  one  result 
for  Poland  is  clear  from'  Sir  Edward  Grey's  words 
in  the  Bechstein  Hall,  on  March  22,  1915:  ^' We 
wish  the  nations  of  Europe  to  be  free  to  live 
their  independent  lives,  working  out  their  own 
forms  of  government,  for  themselves  and  their  own 
development,  whether  they  be  great  States  or  small 
States,   in   full   liberty— that  is  our  ideal." 

If  Poland  were  not  to  regain  its  Independence  as  a 
result  of  this  struggle,  England  would  have  failed  in 
her  mission  to  vindicate  the  principle  that  oppressed 
nationalities  *'  are  not  to  be  crushed  by  the  arbi- 
trary will  of  a  strong  and  overmastering  power,'* 
and  *'to  help  them  in  their  struggle  for  freedom', 
whether  as  in  the  case  of  Belgium  in  maintaining 
what  they  have  won,  or,  as  in  the  case  of  Poland] 
or  the  Balkan  States,  in  regaining  what  they  have 
LOST  "  (Mr.  Asquith,  October  3,  1914,  and  August  6, 
1915). 


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POLAND  AS  AN  INDEPENDENT 
ECONOMIC  UNIT 

BEING   A    LECTURE    DELIVERED    AT    THE 

••  ECOLE  DES  HAUTES  ETUDES  SOCIALES," 

PARIS.   JANUARY  29,   1916 

BY 

STANISLAW    POSNER 

With  an  Introduction  by 
SIDNEY  WEBB 


INTRODUCTION 

I  GLADLY  comply  with  the  invitation  to  contribute 
a  few  words  of  preface  to  Mr,  Stanislaw  Posner's 
im^ixssive  account  of  the  material  resources  of  Poland. 
The  series  projected  by  the  Polish  Information  Com- 
mittee is  badly  needed  in  this  country.  Fate  has, 
indeed,  been  hard  on  Poland,  So  far  as  the  United 
Kingdom  is  concerned,  it  has  not  only  fallen  out  of  the 
maps  from  which  we  learn  how  Europe  is  made  tip — 
it  has  fallen  also  out  of  our  knowledge.  We  get,  if 
only  through  the  Stock  Exchange,  some  idea  of  the 
industrial  resources  and  economic  exploitation  of 
Mexico  and  Persia  ;  but  we  read  very  little  about  the 
enormous  and  astonishing  material  development  be- 
tween  the  Oder  and  the  Dwina,  within  a  couple  of 
days^  travel  from  London.  We  realize  the  rapid 
growth  of  Chicago  and  Winnipeg  and  Oklahoma  ;  but 
forget  that  of  Lodz,  where  a  city  which  began  to 
grow  only  half  a  century  ago  now  counts  800,000 
inhabitants.  How  many  Englishmen  realize  that 
Lodz  has  become  more  populous  than  either  Liverpool 
or  Manchester  .^  How  many  Scotchmen  are  prepared 
to  find  it  as  a  manufacturing  centre  vying  with 
Glasgow  ?  But  the  mineral  resources  of  Polajid  are 
greater  even  than  its  manufactures.  The  oil  and  salt 
and  coal  and  iron  with  which  Poland  now  supplies 
Europe  constitute  no  small  percentage  of  the  total 
world  resources.  After  the  war  these  will  necessarily 
play  an  important  part  in  any  rearrangement  of 
European  trade. 

141 


142  INTRODUCTION 

No  one  can  pretend  to  foresee  Jioio  the  political 
organization  of  this  part  of  Europe  is  destined  to  be 
affected  during  the  rest  of  the  century.  But  the 
economic  student  ivill  find  it  difficult  to  resist  the 
conclusion  that,  in  the  ever-increasing  indiistrializatiori 
of  the  country^  any  attempt  to  maintain  tariff  walls 
across  the  Polish  plain — any  seeJdng  to  set  up  in- 
dustrial frontiers  between  the  Carpathians  and  the 
Baltic,  between  the  Oder  and  the  Dwina — will  be  a 
violation  of  what  may  be  called  social  geography, 
likely  to  lead  to  instability  and  disaster.  Whether 
economic  geograj^hy  will  silently  influence  political 
geography,  or  political  geography  once  more  coerce 
economic,  who  can  tell  ?  Perhaps  our  Kings  and 
Emperors,  and  their  military  and  fiscal  advisers,  may 
one  day  learn  that  there  is  no  necessary  identity 
between  unbrohen  customs  areas  and  units  of  adminis- 
trative autonomy.  The  map  of  Europe  may  be 
destined  to  become  not  less  complex  but  more — may 
come,  in  fact,  in  the  distant  future,  to  be  painted  not 
with  ojie  series  of  colours  denoting  absolute  and  tmi- 
versal  sovereignties,  but  with  different  sets  of  colours, 
designating  simultayieously  existirig  and  often  over- 
lapping units  relating  respectively  to  race,  religion 
and  language,  to  fiscal  administration,  to  local  govern- 
ment, to  systems  of  law,  and  to  the  administration  of 
transport  and  communications.  Why  should  these 
all  be  compelled  to  coincide  .^  Why  should  we  go  on 
for  all  time  assuming  that  Sovereignty  must  be  one 
and  indivisible,  and  that  Political  Sovereignty  must 
necessarily  be  not  only  the  dominant  but  also  the  only 
controllijig  influence  1 

SIDNEY  WEBB. 


POLAND  AS   AN    INDEPENDENT 
ECONOMIC    UNIT 

The  history  of  a  people  is  inseparable  from 
the  country  in  which  they  live.  The  Greeks  are 
for  ever  associated  with  the  Hellenic  seas,  the 
French  with  France,  the  English  with  their  own 
island. 

Has  Poland  a  personality  of  her  own?  Has  she 
a  personality  in  the  profound  sense  employed  by 
Michelet,  who  spoke  of  the  personality  of  his  own 
great  country  France? 

A  geographical  individuality  is  not  merely  the 
result  of  simple  considerations  of  geology  and 
climate.  It  is  not  a  thing  given  by  nature  from' 
the  beginning.  It  is  wrong,  says  M.  Yidal  de  la 
BJache,  to  regard  a  country  as  a  store-house  in 
which  energy  is  stored,  the  germ  of  which  has  been 

113 


144  POLAND    AS    AN 

placed  there  by  nature,  but  the  development  of  which 
depends  on  man.  It  is  man  who,  in  moulding  a 
country  to  his  use,  places  upon  it  the  seal  of  his 
individuality ;  it  is  in  this  way  that  a  country 
differentiates  itself  from  others,  and  becomes  finally, 
as  it  were,  as  a  medal  struck  with  the  effigy  of 
a   people. 

Geography  determines  the  nature  of  a  people's 
activity  and  social  life.  The  variety  of  the  resources 
which  they  have  at  their  disposal,  their  food,  their 
dwellings,  and  tools,  in  short  their  economic 
activity— all  these  are  due  to  the  geological  con- 
stituents of  the  soil. 

.When  the  war  broke  out  Poland  was  divided  into 
three  parts. ;  These  three  divisions  of  the  old 
Polish  Republic  were  separated  by  customs  duties  ; 
for  two  there  was  no  access  to  the  sea.  Contact 
and  economic  exchange  with  Western  Europe 
were  only,  possible  by  railway  communications 
and  by  the  Vistula,  the  only  waterway  flowing 
to  the  sea.  In  each  of  these  three  divisions  there 
was  a  different  legislative  and  administrative 
system. 

Nevertheless,  we  claim  that  Poland  is  still  a 
united  nation.  Her  partition  was  not  only  a  crime 
against  the  people  of  Poland,  but  against  the  laws 
of  nature,  of  geology,  and  of  geography.  For 
this  very  reason  the  question  has  remained  unsolved 
for  one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  When  the  three 
divisions  are  united  once  more,  Pioland  will  resume 
her   interrupted   national   life. 


INDEPENDENTi    ECONOMIC    UNIT      145 

The  country,  is  called  ''  Poland,"  "  Polonia," 
in  Latin,  in  Polish  "  Polska,"  which  means  the 
country  of  plains  (pole  =  plain).  This  name 
conveys  the  idea  of  limitless  space.  Poland  has 
a  central  position  in  Europe.  If  one  line  is 
drawn  from  Portugal  almost  to  the  Ural  Mountains 
and  another  from  the  Island  of  Crete  to  the  North 
Cape,  they  will  intersect  in  the  plain  of  Poland. 
Poland  is  the  country  of  transition  from  the  west 
to  the  east,  from  the  north  to  the  south.  From 
the  west  to  the  east  the  Germanic  plain  extends 
to  that  of  Sarmatia ;  this  is  analogous  to  the 
situation  of  Belgium  between  France  and  Germany. 
The  geographical  situation  of  both  countries  has 
been  responsible  for  similar  historical  phenomena  ; 
both  have  been  the  battlefield  of  the  nations,  as  is 
shown  by  .Waterloo  and  Grunwald. 

In  the  north  the  frontier  of  Poland  is  clearly 
defined  by  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  in  the  south 
by  the  granite  walls  of  the  Carpathians,  while  in 
the  west  the  country  extends  to  the  River  Oder,  of 
which  Frederick  Barbarossa  said,  "  Poloniam  velut 
murus  ambit"  (it  flanks  Poland  like  a  wall).  In 
fact,  the  right  bank  of  the  Oder  is  called  by  the 
riverside  dwellers  the  Polish  shore.  i 

On  the  east  the  frontier  is  not  so  clearly  defined, 
at  least  not  as  regards  the  Black  Sea,  the  Dniepei^, 
which  makes  a  bend  there,  and  the  Dwina— in  short, 
the  very  line  which,  according  to  a  Ruthenian  chron- 
icler, constituted  "  the  great  riverway  leading  from 

the  country  of  the  Varegues  into  Greece.    This  line 

10 


146  POLAND    AS    AN 

is  not  continuous,  at  least  it  is  onl}^  made  so  by 
the  canal  system  of  Beresina. 

This,  then,  is  the  frame  which  encloses  the 
country.  As  the  poet  said :  "  The  Polish  eagle 
has  her  resting-place  on  the  peaks  of  the 
Carpathians,  and  stretches  forth  her  wings,  one  to 
the  Baltic,  the  other  to  the  Black  Sea." 

From  these  geographical  facts  one  could  almost 
deduce,  a  priori,  the  history  of  the  country. 
Situated  on  the  borders  of  the  East,  Poland 
defends  Western  Europe  :  she  is  like  the  Wall  of 
China  or  the  rampart  of  Trajan.  She  is,  as  it 
were,  a  political  isthmus,  a  dyke  upon  which  the 
peoples  of  the  Orient  beat  like  waves,  in  their 
endeavours  to  flow  westward  ;  on  the  other  side  she 
stemmed  the  tide  of  the  Germanic  peoples  from 
the  shores  of  the  Atlantic.  The  defence  of  these 
two  fronts  was  such  a  serious  drain  on  the  strength 
of  the  nation  that  she  could  not  protect  her 
maritime  boundaries  to  the  south  and  north  from 
the  encroachments  of  nature.  On  the  north  access 
to  the  sea  was  made  difficult  by  a  line  of  lakes, 
bordered  by  a  wooded  and  marshy  country  in- 
habited by  a  warlike  Lithuanian  tribe.  (It  was 
this  obstacle  that  induced  her  to  seek  the  help 
of  the  Teutonic  Knights.)  Germanic  pressure  made 
itself  more  felt  here ;  the  left  wing  of  the  invader 
was  protected  by  the  Baltic  ;  his  communications 
with  the  sea  were  ensured.  Moreover,  from  this 
coast  the  country  was  equally  menaced  by  the 
Swede.     On  the  southern  maritime  boundary  vast 


INDEPENDENT    ECONOMIC    UNIT      147 

desolate  plains  hindered  Poland  from  guarding  her 
seaboard,  and  on  these  shores  wandering  tribes 
from  Asia  took  up  their  abode,  Turks  and  Tartars. 
In  the  sixteenth  century  a  Polish  author  asserted  : 
"  On  all  sides  of  the  country  an  easy  means  of 
ingress  is  afforded  to  our  enemies.  The  Turkish 
cavalry  manoeuvre  as  they  will.  They  advance, 
retreat,  dash  forward,  take  prisoners,  and  secure 
a  huge  booty.  As  for  us,  our  only  defence  lies  in 
our  strength  and  valour.  These  take  the  place  of 
mountains,   rivers,  castles,  and  ramparts." 

The  south-west  part  of  Poland  is  very  rich  in 
coal  of  an  excellent  quality,  in  iron,  in  steel,  in 
zinc ;  lead  is  found  in  all  the  three  divisions  of 
Poland.  Coal  is  found  in  one  large  field,  which  is 
split  up  belt^veen  the  three  States,  each  of  which 
exploits  it  in  a  different  manner.  The  area  of 
this  field  is  estimated  by  geologists  at  about  2,316 
square  miles,  half  of  which  belongs  to  Prussia. 
The  seams  are  327  yards  thick,  and  can  be  worked 
to  a  depth  of  185  yards.  In  1908  the  reserve  of 
coal  in  Poland  was  estimated  at  110,000,000,000 
tons.  Upper  Silesia  possesses  56  mines  employing 
90,000  men.  These  mines  belong  to  the  Germans. 
In  the  Kingdom  of  Poland  the  mines  are  for  the 
most  part  the  property  of  joint-stock  companies 
run  by  foreign  capital— French,  American,  German, 
Russian,  but  also  Polish.  The  net  profit  of  these 
mines,  26  in  number,  employing  20,000  workmen, 
for  the  last  eight  years  ;has  been  £5,000,000. 
The  amount  of  coal  produced  in  Poland  is  sufficient 


148  POLAND    AS    AN 

to  supply  all  France  with  her  40,000,000  in- 
habitants and  the  large  fuel  consumption  of  her 
industries. 

The  industrial  development  of  a  country,  may  be 
measured  by  its  iron  industry.  The  reserve  of  iron 
of  the  Kingdom  is  valued  at  £1,000,000,000.  In 
1909,  1,228,500  tons  of  iron -ore  were  extracted 
and  4,258,800  smelted.  The  Polish  iron-works  deal 
with  a  great  quantity  of  iron-ore  from  Southern 
Russia.  On  the  other  hand,  Poland  provides  Russia 
with  sufficient  zinc  for  all  her  requirements.  The 
zinc  mines  of  Olkusz  were  being  worked  as  early 
as  the  sixteenth  century.  Polish  calamine  was 
known  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries 
in  every  market  of  the  world.  The  yearly  pro- 
duction is  100,000  tons.  In  the  same  district 
there  are  lead  mines.  Until  recently  the  largest 
quantity  of  zinc  came  from  Upper  Silesia.  Her 
output  was  208,000  tons— as  much  as  all  the  other 
countries  of  Europe  added  together.  The  pro- 
duction of  the  United  States  alone— 226,000  tons— 
is  in  excess  of  this. 

A  new  industry  is  that  of  petrol,  exploited  by 
foreign  syndicates.  In  addition  to  oil  for  lighting 
purposes,  raw  petrol  furnishes  benzine,  paraffin, 
and  vaseline.  It  is  equally  in  use  as  a  combustible 
by  mines  and  railways.  The  Polish  petrol  wells 
are  situated  in  Galicia :  the  first  experiments  with 
petrol  were  made  in  1810.  At  Lwow  (Lemberg) 
in  1853,  two  chemists  discovered  a  process  by 
which  carburet  could  be  obtained  from  petrol,  and 


INDEPENDENTi   ECONOMIC    UNIT      149 

in  1856  it  was  used  for  the  first  time  for  lighting 
the  municipal  hospital  of  the  capital  of  Galicia.! 
Eminent  Polish  scientists,  Zuber,  Grzybowski, 
Szajnocha,  Dunikowski,  all  professors  of  the 
Universities  of  Cracow  and  Lwow,  have  made  them- 
selves known  throughout  the  world  by  their  works 
dealing  with  the  petrol  industry.  In  Galicia  the 
petrol  fields  extend  from'  the  valley  of  the  Dounayetz 
as  far  as  the  Bukovina  —  a  distance  of  248 
miles.  In  1912,  petrol  was  being  exploited  in 
389  places.  Professor  Zuber  has  calculated  that 
petrol -bearing  land  in  Galicia  extends  for  a 
distance  of  19,760  acres,  and  contains  at  least 
470,000  tons  of  raw  petrol. 

Salt  is  among  the  mineral  products  which  received 
a  great  deal  of  attention  in  the  country  in  days 
gone  by.  There  are  references  to  the  salt  mines 
of  Bochnia  and  Wieliczka  as  early  as  the  middle 
of  the  twelfth  century  ;  mention  is  made  of  them 
among  the  royal  privileges  granted  to  the  Bene- 
dictine and  Cistercian  monasteries  in  1105  and 
1136.  These  mines  stretch  from  the  Silesian 
frontier  throughout  Galicia  and  Bukovina  to 
Roumania. 

After  the  partition  of  the  country  they  became; 
the  property  of  the  Austrian  State,  and  were 
worked— very  inefficiently — by  a  State  monopoly. 
At  the  time  of  the  existence  of  the  Duchy  of 
.Warsaw,  the  output  of  salt  reached  2,000  tons 
per  annum.  It  is  only  1,000  now,  altliough  the 
consumption   of  salt  has  increased  everywhere  in 


150  POLAND    AS    AN 

the  feeding  of  men  and  animals,  as  well  as  in 
chemical  industries.  The  mines  of  Wieliczka  are 
very  interesting  to  visit ;  they  have  fascinated  many 
a  foreign  visitor  by  their  lighting  a  giorno^  and 
by  the  singing  of  the  miners.  Western  Galicia  also 
possesses  rich  stores  of  potash,  a  chemical  manure 
of  inestimable  value  in  modern  agriculture,  above 
all  in  the  production  of  beetroot.  But  the  mines 
of  Galicia  are  also  administered  by  the  Austrian 
State,  and  instead  of  selling  chemical  manures, 
Galicia  imports  5,000  wagons  every  year,  and  salt 
is  dearer  there  than  in  Switzerland,  who  has  toi 
import  all  her  supply. 

Knowing  the  riches  of  the  Polish  soil,  more  than, 
one  French  chemist  has  insisted  that  the  chemical 
industries  of  Poland  should  develop  to  an  extra- 
ordinary extent,  especially  in  Galicia,  where  salt, 
petrol,  coal,  and  wood  are  so  plentiful.  Industries  for 
the  production  of  glass,  soap,  perfumes,  and  phar- 
maceutical requirements  should  be  set  up  ;  yet  all 
these  industries  still  await  a  creator.  This 
stagnation  may  be  ascribed  to  political  causes,  to 
the  exploitation  of  the  country  by  Germany  and 
Austria.  The  mineral  springs  must  also  be  counted 
among  the  mineral  riches  of  Poland.  They  abound 
in  great  numbers.  There  are  the  sulpho -chlorine 
springs  of  Busk,  chloro-soda  of  Ciechocinek,  and  of 
Druskienniki  in  Lithuania ;  iodo -bromide  ferru- 
ginous alkaline  springs  are  found  all  along  the 
Carpathians.  Statistics  of  brine-baths  mention  39 
thermal  institutions,  four  of  which  are  by  the  sea. 


INDEPENDENT    ECONOMIC    UNIT       151 

Hundreds  of  climacteric  establishments  swarm  in 
the  villages  on  the  mountain  sides,  great  sanatoria 
for  tuberculosis,  rivalling  those  of  Switzerland,  and 
lastly  the  treatment  by  "  Koumys  "  at  Slawuta  in 
Volhynia   should   not  be  forgotten. 

In  enumerating  the  natural  riches  of  the  country, 
certain  facts  have  been  introduced  concerning  the 
coal,  petrol,  salt,  and  zinc  industries.  In  Silesia 
the  industries  of  the  greatest  importance  are  those 
of  mining  and  iron-founding.  The  number  of 
workmen  employed  in  the  latter  in  Prussian  Silesia 
is  reckoned  at  500,000.  The  textile  industry  and 
the  spinning  mills  employ  54,000.  In  the  Duchy 
of  Posen  industrial  development  met  with  many 
obstacles.  German  competition  holds  the  whole 
province  as  in  a  vice.  The  authorities  support 
German  industry  in  the  struggle  against  the  new- 
born Polish  activity  ;  the  Polish  business  man  is  boy- 
cotted as  much  as  the  artisan  ;  and  German  banks 
refuse  to  give  them  credit.  In  spite  of  all  these 
obstacles,  the  makers  of  agricultural  machinery 
compete  with  German  manufacturers,  and  succeed 
in  gaining  the  first  prize  at  international  exhibi- 
tions. 

Industrial  beginnings  in  the  kingdom  of  Poland 
are  very  early.  There  are  proofs  of  their  existence 
at  the  time  of  the  Jagellons.  The  storms  which 
have  swept  the  country,  the  Swedish  invasions  and 
the  rule  of  the  Saxon  kings,  have  by  degrees 
brought  them  to  a  standstill.  But  towards  the  end 
of  the  eighteenth  century  a  new  spirit  manifested 


152  POLAND    AS    AN 

itself  in  Poland,  an  initiative  springing  from  the 
desire  to  reconstruct  the  country,  and  to  save  it 
from  final  dissolution.  In  her  search  after  the 
means  of  salvation  Poland  endeavoured  to  resusci- 
tate her  once  flourishing  industries. 

In  1786  the  "Journal  of  Commerce,"  published 
at  Warsaw,  wrote :  "  Look  at  any  Polish  lord  or 
lady ;  everything  they  wear  is  of  foreign  manu- 
facture." Nobles  such  as  the  Malachowski,  the 
Radziwill,  the  Tyzenhaus,  began  to  start  industries. 
The  English  traveller  Coxe,  who  visited  them, 
wrote  in  this  connection:  "The  principal  manu- 
factures are  those  of  cloths,  stuffs,  linen,  cotton, 
silk,  embroideries,  silk  stockings,  hats,  lace,  fire- 
arms, needles,  and  playing  cards." 

Before  the  third  partition  there  were  in  Poland 
255  factories,  not  counting  saw-mills,  tan-yards 
and  distilleries.  Political  tempests,  which  had 
annihilated  Polish  independence,  did  not  succeed 
in  destroying  the  spirit  of  initiative.  It  still 
existed  under  the  ashes,  and  before  life  again 
resumed  its  normal  course,  before  a  single  ray  had 
illuminated  the  country,  lighting  up  the  hope  of 
ultimate  self-government,  endeavours  were  being 
made  to  create  a  new  industrial  system.  The 
Kingdom  of  the  Congress  had  only  to  carry  forward 
the  work  commenced  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  All  serfs  were  made  free  by  the  Code 
Napoleon.  The  proletariat  had  been  enfranchised 
and  workmen  were  to  be  had  in  abundance.  Jt 
was  necessary  to  make  sure  of  the  capital  required 


INDEPENDENTi    ECONOMIC    UNIX      153 

and  to  find  a  market  for  the  goods.  In  1805  a 
new  scale  of  tariffs  was  introduced,  which  raised 
the  price  of  imported  articles.  Immigrants  were 
attracted  by  privileges,  such  as  freedom  from 
military  service  and  the  non-payment  of  taxes  for 
six  years.  All  necessary  materials  were  given  them 
for  the  construction  of  their  factories.  In  1820 
a  commission  noted  the  towns  and  boroughs  vwhich 
appeared  suitable  for  the  erection  of  factories.  A 
long-term-loan  fund  was  established  for  industrial 
enterprises  (starting  in  1824  at  £12,000  per 
annum).  The  institution  of  this  fund  was  the  work 
of  the  Polish  Minister  of  Finance,  Prince  Lubecki.. 
In  this  way  the.  celebrated  cloth  of  Coqueril  saw 
the  light  of  day  ;  it  was  produced  in  the  cotton 
factory  of  a  French  engineer  named  Girard,  whose 
memory  is  immortalized  by  the  place  bearing  his 
name— Zyrardow.  Lubecki  grasped  the  fact  that 
industrial  life  is  impossible  without  credit,  and  he 
therefore  founded  the  Bank  of  Poland.  Agriculture, 
ruined  by  the  fatal  intrigues  of  the  Prussian  rule, 
was  also  in  need  of  help ;  the  Prussians  had  been 
masters  of  the  country  from  1796  to  1807.  In  1825 
the  Polish  Land  Bank  was  founded.  Two  years 
later  Lubecki  put  up  for  sale  the  mortgages  on 
land  issued  by  the  Land  Bank  on  national  property. 
These  duties  brought  in  3,000,000  Polish  florins, 
and  with  this  money  Lubecki  set  up  the  Bank  of 
Poland,  whose  aim  was  the  development  of  com- 
merce, credit,  and  industry.  The  normal  causes 
of  this  extraordinary  reviv.al  were  found  above  all 


154  POLAND    AS    AN 

in  the  enterprise  of  the  people,  and  in  the  political 
liberty  arising  from  self-government,  which  had  been 
given  to  the  country  by  the  Congress  of  Vienna  of 
1815.  The  Bank  of  Poland  was  more  than  a 
powerful  institution  for  credit.  After  the  disasters 
of  the  revolution  it  was  owing  to  this  bank  that 
national  industry,  still  in  its  infancy,  did  not  dis- 
appear for  ever  ;  it  restored  enterprises  which  were 
sinking,  and  put  them  on  their  feet  again.  It  was 
the  first  great  organizer  of  national  industry.  The 
Land  Bank  of  Poland  has  been  mentioned,  but 
it  should  be  added  that  this  institution  was  the 
father  of  the  Land  Bank  of  France,  which  was 
not  only  set  up  on  the  same  lines,  but  was  founded 
by  a  Pole,  M.  Louis  Wolowski,  who  became,  in 
1830,  a  professor  at  the  *' Conservatoire  des  Arts  et 
Metiers."  He  had  seen  in  his  own  country  the  work 
of  the  Land  Bank  and  was  astonished  not  to  see 
a  similar  institution  in  France ;  he  worked  for 
many  years  (from  1835)  to  convince  the  French 
economists  and  financiers  of  the  necessity  of  setting 
up  a  similar  institution.  After  years  of  laborious 
propaganda  in  the  Press  and  at  the  Constituent 
Assembly  of  1848,  the  Land  Bank  of  France  was 
finally  set  up  in   1852.^ 

Attracted  by  the  freedom  accorded  to  immigrants, 
ten  thousand  colonists  with  their  families,  artisans 
and  spinners,  installed  themselves  at  Lodz,  at 
Zgierz,  at  Pabianice,  Zyrardow;  and  Ozorkow.  They, 
brought  with  them  a  perfection  of  technique,  the 
'  A.  Rouillet,  "  L.  Wolowski."     Paris,  1881. 


INDEPENDENT    ECONOMIC    UNIT      155 

product  of  assiduous  toil.  They  became  a  great 
factor  in  the  economic  and  social  development  of 
the  country.  The  favourable  condition  of  the 
tariffs  also  materially  contributed  to  the  industrial 
prosperity  of  the  country.  The  Congress  of  Vienna 
had  guaranteed  absolute  freedom  of  commerce 
between  the  Kingdom  of  Poland  and  the  Polish 
provinces  of  Prussia  and  Austria.  Commerce  was 
equally  unrestricted  (up  to  1882)  between  Poland 
and  Lithuania,  Volhynia,  Podolia,  and  the  Ukraine. 
Polish  merchants  travelled  freely  through  Russia. 
After  1830  self-government  was  suppressed.  A  new 
system  was  established  which  was  very  unfavour- 
able to  Polish  industry.  Here  it  was  that  the  Bank 
of  Poland  intervened.  In  Lodz,  industry  made 
great  strides.  In  1835  machines  worked  by  steam 
were  introduced,  railways  in  1848.  Russia  did 
awa}^  with  the  tariff  as  regards  Poland  in  1859, 
and  so  opened  a  way  for  Polish  commerce  into 
Russia  and  Asia.  The  peasant  reform  threw  an 
abundance  of  labour  on  the  market ;  not  all  the 
peasants  had  been  endowed  with  land,  and  so 
thousands  drifted  into  the  towns.  From  1850  to 
1870  the  value  of  Polish  manufactures  has  increased 
sixfold. 

In  1877  Russia  abandoned  her  old  system  of 
tariffs.  Under  the  protectionist  regime  Lodz  had 
succeeded  wonderfully.  The  well-known  English 
economist  Hobson  calculated  (in  1894)  the  pro- 
portion in  which  the  towns  of  Europe  had  increased 
in    size.      In    the    case    of   Glasgow    this    increase 


156  POLAND    AS    AN 

amounted  to  970  per  cent.,  of  Berlin  660  per  cent., 
of  Lodz  1,361  per  cent.  Foreign  capital,  French, 
English,  and  above  all  German,  flowed  in  abundance 
into  the  country.  In  the  district  of  Sosnowice,  and 
in  Czestochowa,  which  even  up  to  the  middle  of 
the  nineteenth  century  was  merely  a  hunting 
ground,  the  resort  of  Silesian  magnates,  on  account 
of  its  richness  in  game,  industry  made  a  tremendous 
advance  in  a  very  short  time.  Great  industrial 
towns  arose  where,  hitherto,  there  had  been  only 
pine  forests  and  desolate  sand-dunes.  Such  towns 
are  found  in  America ;  their  sole  monument  is 
a  factory  chimney,  they  are  without  traditions. 
Sumptuous  palaces  set  at  defiance  the  misery  that 
exists  around  them.  These  are  the  towns  which 
suck  into  their  whirlpool  millions  of  souls,  and 
bring  forth  millionaires  with  the  multitude  of  their, 
riches. 

Lodz  is  an  enormous  city,  whose  sole  claim  to 
beauty  lies  in  the  dignity  of  immense  industrial 
undertakings.  Day  and  night  there  is  ceaseless 
activity.  Masters  and  men  alike  bow  before  the 
implacable  rod  of  labour,  in  this  city  of  800,000 
working  population.  The  strident  call  of  the  siren 
awakes  the  people  from  sleep  and  calls  them  to 
rest.  It  is  also  the  passing  bell  of  the  dead,  the 
regulator  of  the  whole  life  of  the  community.  In 
the  streets,  dragging  huge  trucks  laden  with  cotton 
or  wool,  surges  a  vast  throng.  Every  irace,  language, 
and  religion  is  represented  here.  In  1895,  out  of 
every  hundred  only,  forty -it  wo  were  natives  of  Lodz. 


r  INDEPENDENTi   ECONOMIC    UNIT      157 

In  1900  Lodz  contained  a  population  of  227,000 
workmen.  She  was  the  new  Colchis  ;  towards  her 
the  Argonauts  of  the  world  set  sail.  The  fame  of 
this  wonder-city  was  noised  abroad,  in  which  "  the 
possibilities  were  unlimited."  Towards  the  land 
of  promise  turned  beggars,  capitalists,  manufac- 
turers, German  merchants,  peasants,  Jews,  im- 
poverished noblemen  of  Russia.  In  the  infernal 
struggle  round  the  Golden  Fleece  many  made  their 
fortunes,  many  more  died  in  the  attempt. 

The  whole  country  stretching  to  the  German 
frontier  became  one  vast  factory.  From  Nowo- 
Radomsk  and  Czestochowa,  which  is  famous 
throughout  the  Catholic  world  for  the  miraculous 
image  of  Our  Lady,  and  is  at  the  same  time  a 
great  industrial  centre  ;  from  these  towns  to  the 
frontier  there  is  nothing  but  a  forest  of  immense 
chimneys.  Nowo-Radomsk  has  a  furniture  factory, 
whose  products  are  called  in  Paris  "  Viennese " 
furniture  ;  Rudniki,  lime  and  cement  works  ;  Czesto- 
chowa, great  factories  for  textile  and  metal  goods. 
The  metal  trade  is  predominant  in  Myszkow,  textiles 
in  Zawiercie.  Then  comes  the  mining  industry  of 
Sosnowice  and  Dombrowa.  This  land  of  factories 
is  only  divided  by  the  German,  Austrian,  and 
Russian  frontiers,  across  which  numberless  wagons 
pass  daily.  Thousands  of  artisans  cross  during 
the  fete-day  from  Sosnowice,  which  is  in  Russia, 
to  Katowice,  which  is  in  Germany.  On  both  sides 
of  the  frontier  there  is  the  same  race.  They  are 
all  Poles  by  the  great  universal  law  of  assimilation, 


158  POLAND    AS    AN 

split  up  by  artificial  means,  waiting  only  for 
liberty  to  weld  themselves  again  into  a  composite 
whole.  For  thirty  years  the  language  of  commerce 
was  German.  Only  German  was  heard  in  the 
streets.  The  workers  spoke  German,  read  books 
in  the  same  tongue.  The  papers  were  published 
in  German.  Master  and  man  alike  were  in  the 
pay  of  foreigners,  for  the  most  part  Germans. 
Gradually  there  appeared  Polish  engineers,  doctors, 
and  lawyers  ;  Polish  capital  made  its  first  halting 
attempts  to  finance  industrial  enterprises.  This  was 
the  commencement  of  the  nationalization  of  the 
towns  of  Lodz,  Sosnowice,  and  Dambrowa.  This 
movement  was  not  encouraged  by  the  Government ; 
and  it  had  many  difficulties  to  surmount  before 
the  path  was  clear.  Before  a  corrupt  administra- 
tion, the  alliance  of  the  bureaucracy  and  German 
capital,  it  was    almost   powerless. 

Polish  products  had  been  available  for  a  long  time 
in  the  markets  of  the  interior—Polish,  Lithuanian, 
and  Podolian.  After  Russia  became  linked  to 
Poland  by  railways,  Lodz  commenced  to  export 
to  the  markets  of  the  East  (about  1880).  Her 
exports  penetrated  southward  to  the  Caucasus,  and 
into  Transcaucasia.  They  invaded  Central  Russia 
and  the  country  of  the  Volga.  In  1895  Polish 
products  reached  as  far  as  Omsk  in  Siberia,  China, 
Central  Asia,  Persia,  and  Asia  Minor.  In  the 
Constantinople  market  they  were  faced  with  German 
competition,  and  on  the  Balcanic  market  with  that 
of  Austria.     In    the   course   of  a  few  years  com- 


INDEPENDENT    ECONOMIC    UNIT      159 

mercial  travellers  from  Lodz  were  to  be  met  in 
Spain  and  in  South  Africa.  Since  1870  the  textile 
industries  of  Poland  have  increased  700  per  cent. 
There  are  3,000  factories  in  existence,  large  and 
small,  employing  289,000  workmen. 

Two  words  concerning  the  metal  industry— in 
1814  there  were  46  furnaces  for  casting  iron.  The 
Polish  minister  Lubecki  set  up  the  first  metal  works 
in  Warsaw.  The  Bank  of  Poland  founded  another 
at  Dombrowa,  which  is  now  the  property  of  French 
capitalists,  having  its  office  in  Paris.  The  pro- 
hibitive tariff  (1868)  led  a  large  number  of 
foreign  metallurgists  to  build  great  furnaces  all 
along  the  frontier.  The  iron  and  steel  output  in 
1911  was  3,704,000  tons  ;  this  represented  the  out- 
put of  18,000  workers. 

The  question  is  often  asked :  If  Poland  were 
free,  how  could  she  hope  successfully  to  organize 
her  economic  life  without  support  from  the  markets 
of  the  East?  Her  industry,  it  is  affirmed,  produces 
for  foreign  consumption.  What  would  become  of 
the  great  factories  bristling  with  chimneys,  what 
would  become  of  the  legions  of  workmen,  genera- 
tions of  whom  have  followed  the  same  trade,  if  a 
world-wide  upheaval  rendered  Poland  independent? 
The  reply  to  these  fears  lies  in  the  great  law  of 
adaptation.  The  desire  to  live  will  always  surmount 
these  difficulties.  Alsace-Lorraine  is  a  case  in 
point.  Alsace  was  an  ancient  centre  of  the  textile 
industry.  In  the  fourteenth  century  linen  and 
wool  workers  were  spread  all  through  Alsace,  and 


160  POLAND    AS    AN 

in  1743  the  first  experiments  were  made  in  printing 
cloth.  The  great  pioneer  of  cotton  was  named 
Koechlin,  and  in  a  short  time  the  great  Alsatian 
industry  had  sprung  into  existence.  The  cotton 
industry  embraced  almost  the  whole  of  Alsace.  All 
buyers  of  printed  calico  went  to  Alsace  to  make 
their  purchases.  From  the  time  when  Mulhausen,i 
a  free  town,  was  annexed  at  her  own  request  by 
France  in  1798,  there  was  nothing  to  impede  her 
industries,  which  had  been  cramped  until  then  by 
the  duties  levied  by  France  on  all  manufactured 
goods.  The  vast  conquests  of  the  Empire  opened 
for  her  a  huge  field  for  commerce.  Coloured  cloths, 
spinning,  weaving,  engineering,  chemical  products 
(industries  which  bear  a  striking  analogy  to  those 
of  Lodz),  made  of  Mulhausen  a  great  industrial 
centre.  This  town  became  (and  remained  so  until 
1870)  the  industrial  capital,  not  only  of  Alsace, 
but  of  the  six  departments,  the  Upper  and  Lower 
Rhone,  the  Vosges,  the  Doubs,  the  Upper  Saone, 
and  the  Meurthe.  *'  Mulhausen,"  said  King 
Charles  X  in  1828,  "is  the  capital  of  French 
industry." 

But  disaster  came.  The  annexation  of  Alsace 
had  the  effect  of  a  blow  from  a  club  ;  the  country 
was  stunned  by  it.  The  reign  of  terror  to  which 
she  was  subjected  gave  her  a  feeling  of  impotence. 
Like  a  man  disarmed,  she  was  face  to  face  with 
an  inexorable  power.     What  would  be  the  fate  of 

*  R.  Levy,  "Histoire  Economique  de  I'lndustrie  cotoniere 
en  Alsace  "  (1912). 


INDEPENDENT    ECONOMIC    UNIT      161 

unhappy  Alsace,  the  limb  cut  from  the  bleeding  body, 
of  France?  She  was  one  of  the  most  prosperous 
countries  in  Europe.  What  would  be  the  economic 
consequences  of  her  separation  from  France  and 
her  amalgamation  with  Germany?  She  was  shut 
out  from  the  market  for  which  her  products  werQ 
intended.  She  was  forced  to  turn  to  Germany, 
and  make  a  new  market  there,  struggling  against 
other  methods  of  commerce,  and  in  the  face  of 
enmity.  .What  was  the  outcome  of  this  period? 
The  manufacturers  were  faced  by  many  problems. 
Ruin  seemed  to  be  before  them.  But  the  men  of 
eminence  did  not  give  up  hope.  They  made 
numberless  attempts,  and  at  last  succeeded  in 
gaining  approval  at  the  peacfe  preliminaries  for  the 
export  of  goods  into  France  on  a  graduated  scale. 
A  description  of  this  method  is  found  in  the 
"  Souvenirs  "  of  Monsieur  Dollfus,  a  great  manu- 
facturer of  Alsace.  He  was  the  salvation  of  Alsace, 
by  gaining  permission  to  export  into  France 
about  £14,000,000  of  merchandise ;  this  was 
towards  the  end  of  1872,  so  that  industry  had  had 
one  and  a  half  years  to  adapt  itself  to  the  new 
order  of  things.  This  it  accomplished  by  taking 
the  bull  by  the  horns.  Behind  was  a  glorious 
past :  industrial  traditions,  a  unique  staff,  and  work- 
people of  the  first  class.  Victory  was  the  outcome 
of  perseverance.  Into  her  factories  were  introduced 
all  the  improvements  that  had  been  invented  during 
forty  years  of  sorrow.  This  example  of  Alsatian 
perseverance   is    a   good    augury   perhaps    for   the 

11 


162  POLAND    AS    AN       1  i 

friends  of  Polish  industry.  She  can  accommodate 
herself  to  all  conditions.  She  will  never  give  way 
to  despair.  In  the  first  place  the  market  nearest 
to  hand  will  be  restocked,  that  is,  the  Polish  market, 
which  is  so  much  the  firmer.  The  treaties  of 
Vienna,  of  1815,  drawn  up  by  the  participating 
Powers— between  Russia  and  Austria,  Russia  and 
Prussia,  Prussia  and  Austria— still  considered  that 
as  far  as  tariffs  were  concerned  the  whole  country 
inhabited  by  Poles  was  one  territory.  Navigation 
on  all  the  rivers  and  canals  of  Poland  was  to  be 
free  for  all  the  inhabitants.  The  Powers  declared 
XArt.  28)  that  all  the  products  of  the  Polish 
provinces,  considered  as  such  before  the  first 
partition,  might  be  exchanged  free  of  duty.  This 
included  the  land  between  the  Dwina,  the  Dnieper, 
the  Dniester,  the  Oder,  and  the  sea,  together  with 
^Western  Prussia. 

Soon  the  dust  of  time  covered  the  leaves  of  the 
treaties,  and  when  in  the  Prussian  Chamber 
Deputy  Niegolewski,  in  1861  (22nd  April),  implored 
the  Government  to  uphold  the  stipulations  of  the 
Congress  of  Vienna,  he  was  greeted  by  the  smilies 
of  his  colleagues  and  indescribable  amazement  on 
the  part  of  the  ministers.  The  Treaty  of  Vienna 
was  regarded  then  as  a  "  scrap  of  paper."  The 
same  fate  was  reserved  for  the  Polish  claims  in 
1879,  during  the  discussion  of  the  question  of  tariffs. 
The  Poles  asked  the  German  Government  to  take 
into  consideration,  at  the  time  of  the  conclusion^ 
of  the  commercial  treaties  with  Russia  and  Austria, 


INDEPENDENT    ECONOMIC    UNIT      163 

the  rights  guaranteed  to  Poland  by  the  Treaty  of 
.Vienna  relating  to  the  political  and  commercial 
unity  of  all  the  Polish  provinces  included  within 
her  territories  before  1772.  The  imperturbable 
serenity  with  which  Bismarck  brushed  aside  these 
claims   can   be   imagined. 

A  home  market  supplying  20,000,000  inhabitants, 
who  up  to  that  time  had  bought  from  other 
markets,  German  or  Austrian,  would  prove  a 
compensation  for  the  "  Paradise  Lost "  in  the 
markets  of  the  East.  This  market  was,  however, 
far  from  being  a  Paradise,  and  for  one  simple 
reason,  the  competition  with  so-called  Muscovite 
productions.  A  desperate  struggle  raged  between 
these  two  centres,  and  every  order  possible  was 
obtained  to  the  detriment  of  Polish  commerce.  As 
early  as  1826,  the  merchants  of  Moscow  complained 
of  Polish  competition,  and  recrimination  became 
continuous  from  the  time  of  the  introduction  of 
the  protectionist  regime. 

During  the  year  1886,  a  commission,  presided 
over  by  the  celebrated  Russian  economist  Professor 
JanchuUe  (Janzul),  declared,  in  drawing  a  com- 
parison between  Poland  and  Russia,  that  in  Poland 
fuel  is  cheaper,  capital  firmer,  and  the  rate  for 
lending  money  lower  than  in  Russia,  and  lastly 
the  relations  between  capital  and  labour  were  on 
a  better  footing  than  in  the  Empire.  In  Russia 
wages  were  lower,  the  markets  dearer,  and  the 
expenses  for  works  of  public  utility  more  reduced. 
The  observations  of  Professor  Janchulle  have  been 


164  POLAND    AS    AN  ' 

endorsed  many  times  since,  both  by  foreign  and 
Polish  economists.  How  then  does  Lodz  come  to 
outdistance  Moscow?  A  German  professor,  G.  von 
Schultze-Gavernitz  of  Freiburg,  laid  stress  on  the 
qualities  of  the  Polish  workmen.  He  approaches 
nearer  than  his  Russian  comrade  to  the  type  created 
by  the  great  industries  of  the  West.  He  is  altogether 
more  European.  He  eats  better  and  works  better ; 
he  is  more  prudent,  better  instructed  in  his  trade, 
more  highly  specialized.  He  does  not  require  such 
a  close  watch  kept  over  him  ;  he  is  anxious  to 
win  respect.  Corporal  punishment  at  Lodz  is  un- 
known, and  fines  are  rare.  According  to  Janchulle, 
certain  Moscow  manufacturers  had  profited  largely 
by  their  system  of  fines.  At  Moscow  a  day's  work 
consists  of  from  fourteen  to  sixteen  hours,  an 
average  day  being  twelve  and  a  half  hours.  At 
Lodz  it  never  exceeds  eleven  hours,  and  yet  work 
is  cheaper  there.  At  Lodz,  also,  the  workman 
benefits  by  different  social  organizations,  which 
Janchulle  recommended  to  the  manufacturers  of 
Moscow.  .Whereas  these  organizations  exist  in 
every  Polish  factory,  out  of  158  in  Moscow  only, 
10  possess  them.  These  remarks,  however,  it  must 
be  remembered,  were  made  thirty  years  ago.^ 

^  Maxime  Kovalevsky,  "  La  Russie  Sociale "  (Conferences 
faites  an  College  de  France,  Jan.  1914),  says  :  "  The  intense 
nature  of  the  labour  agitation  which  took  place  during  the 
last  years  of  the  last  century,  and  the  first  years  of  this,  forced 
the  Government  to  inquire  into  the  conditions  of  the  town 
workers.  A  law  had  been  passed  creating  a  factory  inspector, 
and  forbidding  women  and  children  to  work  full  time.     The 


INDEPENDENT    ECONOMIC    UNIT      165 

What  were  these  organizations?  A  pharmacy, 
a  restaurant,  schools,  a  co-operative  society  in 
premises  given  by  the  manufacturer,  dwellings  for 
the  employees,  a  home  for  the  aged  and  infirm,  a 
savings  bank,  and  a  superannuation  fund— all  of 
these  were  to  be  found. 

In  the  struggle  between  Lodz  and  Moscow,  the 
manufacturers  of  Moscow  had  a  very  great  advan- 
tage. The  cost  of  transport  for  merchandise  sent 
to  the  Eastern  markets  was  much  more  costly  from 
Lodz,  namely  an  increase  of  45  per  cent,  on  goods 
sent  to  Wladikawkaz,  and  180  per  cent,  on  those 
to  Koursk,  while  a  freight  of  cotton,  in  its  raw  state, 
sent  from  the  shores  of  the  Caspian  reached  Moscow 
for  12d.,  and  Lodz  for  il7d.  per  36  lb.  (pood). 
lYet  in  spite  of  all  these  disabilities,  Lodz  remained 

working  day  was  declared  to  be  limited  to  llj  hours  ;  and  in 
1906  to  10  hours  ;  the  actual  hours  of  work  were  not  to  exceed 
9  hours.  But  this  law,  as  Professor  Ozerow  showed  in  his 
"  La  Politique  Ouvriere  en  Russie "  (Moscow,  1905),  has 
remained  a  dead  letter.  At  the  same  time  the  Government 
issued  orders  to  the  inspectors  of  factories  to  do  all  in  their 
power  to  avert  strikes.  Nevertheless,  if  this  was  impossible 
they  were  to  make  the  workers  understand  that  no  concession 
might  be  made  to  them,  on  the  part  of  their  employers,  until 
they  had  resumed  work.  Where  the  directors  agreed  to  the 
demands  of  the  workers,  they  ran  the  risk  of  incurring  grave 
penalties  by  order  of  the  State.  Workers  who  would  not  listen 
to  reason  were  deported  to  their  native  towns.  It  was  not 
until  1912  that  the  Government  laid  down  that  it  was  the 
duty  of  employers  to  look  after  the  workers  in  cases  of  sick- 
ness and  accidents.  Not  until  then  was  a  law  passed 
enforcing  the  insurance  of  workmen  against  sickness  and 
accidents. 


166  POLAND    AS    AN 

victorious.  Workmen  of  a  superior  class  were  an 
enormous  asset  in  such  a  struggle,  and  Professor 
JanchuUe  in  his  report  has  shown  this  to  be  the  case. 
Lodz,  generally  speaking,  is  better  supplied  with 
capital  than  Moscow.  Every,  invention,  be  it  English, 
French,  or  American,  is  immediately  adopted. 
English,  Alsatian,  and  German  engineers  have  been 
there  with  their  brains,  and  Lodz  has  benefited 
thereby.  The  town  is  situated  in  the  country  of 
the  Napoleonic  Code,  and  is  in  the  enjoyment  of 
the  mortgage  system,  which  has  existed  in  Poland 
for  three  hundr'ed  years,  but  which  is  not  found 
in  Russia  to  this  day. 

Ten  years  after  Professor  JanchuUe,  a  French- 
man had  occasion  to  investigate  the  economic 
struggle  between  Lodz  and  Moscow.  A  French 
consul,  M.  Verstraete,  said  in  his  voluminous  report 
on  the  exhibition  at  Nijni -Novgorod :  "  The 
Mosoovite  centre,  the  sanctuary  of  national  industry, 
always  following  the  traditions  and  the  footsteps 
of  the  past,  is  the  incarnation  of  the  ancient  spirit, 
and  this  is  personified  in  her  manufacturers,  the 
majority  of  whom  are  Russians  of  the  old  stock. 
Many  of  them  still  wear  the  boots,  caftan,  and  cap, 
cross  themselves  with  two  fingers,  and  have 
luxurious  abodes  where  they  keep  to  their  old 
customs.  Other  customs  come  from  Poland. 
Poland  was  represented  at  the  exhibition,  not  so 
much  by  tools  and  stock  in  trade,  as  by  a  great 
richness  of  inspiration,  a  real  superiority  in  manu- 
facture, a  style  so  modern  that  it  must  show  home 


INDEPENDENT    ECONOMIC    UNIT      167 

manufacturers  the  desirability  of  altering  their 
productions,  of  bringing  them  up  to  date,  and 
making  them  to  please  the  taste  of  their  well-to-do 
customers.  Polish  industry  is  beginning  to  raise  x 
a  more  formidable  barrier  against  foreign  imports 
than  the  tariffs  themselves.  She  is  beginning  to 
mamifacture  Parisian  productions.  She  represents 
the  new  spirit.  The  district  round  Moscow  is 
jealous  of  Poland.  A  little  before  1897,  the  manu- 
facturers of  Moscow  addressed  a  petition  to  the 
Government  asking  them  to  prohibit  the  importation 
of  Polish  wool  stuffs  into  Russia,  except  on  the 
payment  of  a  tariff.  "  This,"  says  the  French 
Consul  in  conclusion,  "  betrayed  the  state  of 
mind,  and  the  antipathy  of  the  Moscovite  centre 
to  any  competition  emanating  from  the  West.''^ 

To  learn  what  Poland  has  been  in  the  past,  and 
what  she  is  in  the  present,  it  is  only  necessary  to  ' 
study  with  more  precision  her  most  important 
river,  the  Vistula.  The  history  of  the  Vistula  sheds 
light  upon  the  ancient  condition  of  Poland,  and 
on  her  condition  to-day.  The  basin  of  the  Vistula 
is  like  the  throbbing  heart  of  the  country,  and  the 
story,  of  the  role  she  has  played  in  the  evolution 
of  the  country  is  to  a  certain  extent  emblematic 
of  Poland's  historic  desitinies.  Her  past,  like  that  of 
the  Vistula,  is  more  brilliant  than  her  present. 
Through  a  line  of  marshes  extending  towards  the 
west,  where  the  Bydgoszcz  (Bromberg)  canal  has 
been  constructed,  the  river  formerly  pointed  a  way 

^  M.  Verstraete,  "  La  Russie  Industrielle  "  (1897),  pp.  155-7. 


168  POLAND    AS    AN 

towards  the  Oder  by  the  Notec.  To  the  east  the 
Narew  joined  up  the  Bug  and  the  Dnieper.  Her 
extensive  domain  in  this  way  formed  the  ancient 
Kingdom  of  Poland.  The  Vistula  then  was  the 
main  national  artery  of  Poland.  Her  importance 
as  a  means  of  communication  is  testified  to  by 
the  ruined  granaries  at  Kazimierz,  the  imposing 
walls  of  which  have  resisted  the  tempests  \Thich 
swept  over  the  country  from  time  to  time,  and  the 
still  more  ancient  ruins  of  Wloclawek,  which  ante- 
date them  by  two  hundred  years.  The  commercial 
value  of  the  river  declined  with  the  fall  of  Poland  ; 
the  partition  of  the  country  meant  that  of  tlie 
river.  As  far  as  Zawichost  and  Sandomierz  it  wis 
Austrian,  to  Nieszawa  Russian,  and  German  to 
Gdansk  (Danzig).  At  these  places  along  the  frontier 
were  customs  houses,  which  contributed,  together 
with  the  creation  of  new  means  of  communication, 
to  decrease  German  traffic  to  a  great  extent.  To. 
bring  it  back  again  would  have  meant  the  expending 
of  both  time  and  money,  which  was  never  available 
for  such  a  use.  Plans  had  been  on  foot  to  connect 
the  Vistula  to  the  Dniester  by  means  of  a  canal, 
a  distance  of  not  more  than  40  miles.  This 
question  was  raised  in  Poland  as  early  as  the 
sixteenth  century.  These  [40  miles  would  have 
established  a  line  of  communication  of  730 
miles.  The  construction  of  this  canal  involved 
work  on  the  San,  the  Vistula,  and  on  the  Dniester 
in  the  borders  of  Galicia,  and  Austria  never  had 
the  money  to  undertake  such  an  important  enter- 


INDEPENDENTi    ECONOMIC    UNIT      169 

prise.  Prussia  alone  had  the  money.  The 
Vistula  occupies  an  area  of  60,200  square  miles, 
16,600  of  which  are  in  Silesia  and  Galicia, 
41,300  in  the  Kingdom  of  Poland,  the  Provinces 
of  Volhynia  and  Grodno,  and  11,900  in  West  and 
East  Prussia.  .With  her  21  tributaries,  she  has 
a  total  length  of  4,800  miles,  nearly  3,100  of  which 
are  navigable.  But  the  employment  of  the  river 
as  a  means  of  transport  is  not  practicable  yet ;  no 
canals  have  been  cut,  nor  anything  done  to  improve 
it  for  navigation,  except  on  a  very  short  portion 
of  the  Prussian  section.  Prussia  alone  has 
spent  £3,600,000  in  carrying  out  the  necessary, 
works.  In  Galicia  fifty  years  have  only  brought 
about  the  making  of  canals  a  few,  miles  in 
length.  In  the  Kingdom  of  Poland  nothing  has 
been  done  except  in  the  vicinity  of  Warsaw.  One 
of  the  most  fatal  consequences  of  this  neglect  is 
the  huge  havoc  caused  in  Galicia  and  in  Poland  by 
the  annual  floods  ;  another  is  the  rudimentary  state 
of  navigation.  Steam-boats  on  the  Vistula  only 
number  135,  75  belonging  to  Prussia,  55  to  Poland, 
and  5  to  Galicia.  As  mentioned  above,  the  political 
redistribution  allotted  only  a  minor  share  to  Prussia 
compared  with  that  enjoyed  by  the  other  partici- 
pants, in  fact,  one-fifth  of  the  area  of  the  basin.  But 
it  was  the  best  part,  for  it  comprised  the  mouth 
of  the  river.  Prussia  looked  after  her  share, 
but  the  others  made  nothing  of  theirs.  "And  the 
Vistula  was  condemned  to  the  humiUating  role  of 
general   uselessness.      She.   also,"    as   the   Dean   of 


170  POLAND    AS    AN 

Nancy,    M.    Bertrand   Auerbach,i    declared,    *'  is    a 
victim  of  the  partition  of  Poland." 

At  the  estuary  is  the  town  called  Gdansk 
(Gedanum),  in  German  Danzig,  a  beautiful  old 
city,  the  Venice  of  the  North,  with  a  history 
full  of  the  wonders  of  the  past.  On  a  wall 
of  the  Town  Hall  is  inscribed  "  Exsuperans 
Gedanum " ;  it  is  a  town  famous  in  the  twelfth 
century  for  her  commerce,  under  Teutonic  rule 
from  1308  to  ,1454,  reunited  to  Poland  from  the 
fifteenth  century  up  to  1793,  and  from  1807  to  1813 
occupied  by  Napoleon.  Since  then  it  has  been 
incorporated  in  the  State  of  Prussia.  Danzig  is 
also  a  city  full  of  pride  ;  on  one  occasion,  rather 
than  acknowledge  the  King,  Stephan  Batory,  it 
endured  a  siege  of  several  months  ;  on  another 
it  withstood  Prussian  domination  for  twenty  years, 
although  blockaded  on  the  continent  and  menaced 
by  the  foundation  of  other  commercial  centres. 
The  merchant  vessels  of  Danzig  visited  Portugal 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  voyaged  as  far  as 
Brazil  in  search  of  sugar.  The  Dutch  found  Danzig 
agreeable  ;  they  set  up  factories  and  mills  ;  they 
introduced  new  methods  of  breeding  cattle,  and 
the  ceramic  treasures  of  Delft.  A  distillery  for 
liqueurs  was  established  by  the  Dutch  in  1598, 
and  is  still  in  existence  ;  the  founder  was  called 
Ambrose  YermoUen,  and  was  the  inventor  of  Danzig 
brandy,  which  has  always  been  held  in  high  esteem 
in  Poland. 

'  ".Annales  de  Geographie,"  xii.  234. 


I 


INDEPENDENT    ECONOMIC    UNIT      171 


Towards  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  Italians 
made  their  appearance  in  the  markets  of  Danzig. 
Duke  Vicenzo  Gonzaga  of  Mantua  did  business 
there,  and  the  Pope  bought  corn  there  at  a  time 
of  deartli.  A  whole  fleet  of  boats  full  of  Polish 
corn  was  sent  to  Rome,  where  Pope  Gregory  XIV 
greeted  them  as  though  they  were  salvation  sent 
by  Heaven. 

To-day  Danzig  is  a  flourishing  town.  The  Vistula 
brings  to  her  the  riches  of  many  mines,  Russian 
salt,  Polish  wood,  Lithuanian  corn.  The  Vistula 
is  not  looked  after  as  a  waterway,  but  the  force 
of  circumstance  is  too  strong.  Where  there  are 
several  means  of  communication  it  is  well  known 
that  the  heavier  commodities,  such  as  coal,  iron,  and 
salt,  are  always  transported,  where  possible,  by 
water.  At  Nieszawa,  on  the  Prussian  frontier,  a 
few  years  ago,  1,840  boats  were  counted  carry- 
ing commodities  to  the  value  of  £500,000. 
Venerable  oaks  from  the  forests  of  Lithuania, 
Podolia,  Volhynia,  and  Russia,  pines  and  birches 
were  carried  to  Danzig,  from  Danzig  to  Kiel, 
Hamburg,  Havre,  and  Bordeaux.  Besides  steam- 
boats, rafts  pass  to  and  fro.  Although  the<?e  have 
fallen  into  disuse  on  the  rivers  of  the  West,  they, 
are  still  highly  esteemed  in  Poland,  where  a  simple, 
sympathetic  people,  the  raftsmen  and  bargees,  spend 
their  life  on  the  water.  Of  these  2,000  rafts,  200 
come  from  Galicia,  850  from  Poland,  700  from 
Podolia  ;  in  this  way  all  Poland  is  as  one  on  the 
frontier   under   the   same  grey-blue   skies,    and   on 


172  POLAND    AS    AN 

the  majestic  waves  of  the  Vistula  all  the  provinces 
of  Poland  carry  the  products  of  her  soil  to  the  sea. 

But  Gdansk  is  a  German  town  !  Only  for  the 
time  being,  perhaps  !  The  Czech  capital,  the 
magnificent  town  of  Prague— Zlata  Praha — was  also 
absolutely  German  scarcely  fifty  years  ago.  The 
great  Russian  Slavist  Pypin  tells  us  in  his 
*' Memoirs  "  that  when  he  visited  Prague  in  1859 
he  was  stupefied  at  finding  himself  in  a  German 
town,  where  it  was  a  matter  of  searching  to  find 
a  Czech  speaking  his  own  language.  "  Only 
German  is  heard  in  the  streets  ;  all  the  flags  are 
German,  the  inhabitants  are  scarcely  of  the  Slav 
type."  At  a  restaurant  he  addressed  a  waiter : 
*'Are  you  Czech?"  ''Heaven  preserve  me,"  he 
replied.  And  Pypin  concluded :  *'  An  ordinary 
tourist  going  to  Prague  for  several  days  would 
leave  the  town  with  the  conviction  that  he  had 
visited  a  beautiful  German  city,  where  there  were 
some  Czechs." 

A  German  born  at  Prague,  the  celebrated 
musician  Edward  Hanslick,  notes  in  his  "  Memoirs," 
published  twenty  years  later,  his  astonishment  at 
seeing  Prague  ceasing  to  be  a  German  town  and 
becoming  Czech.  This  metamorphosis  is  not  too 
difiicult  to  understand.  The  upper  classes  in 
Bohemia  were  germanized,  and  also  the  town,  but 
the  people  remained  Czech.  And  it  is  the  people 
who  have  brought  about  this  miracle,  who  have 
reconquered  their  capital  which  their  fathers 
abandoned  to  the  victors  of  the  "iWhite  Mountain." 


INDEPENDENT!    ECONOMIC    UNIT      173 

Statistics  are  the  most  eloquent  witnesses.  In  1848 
the  population  numbered  120,000,  more  than  half 
of  whom  were  German.  In  1900,  out  of  394,000 
inhabitants  only  24,000  were  German.  The  entire 
Municipal  Council  is  Czech.  "  Prague  has  torn  aside 
the  German  envelope  in  which  she  was  wrapped.'* 

In  the  same  way  the  people  of  Danzig  are  not 
Germans.  If  you  talk  to  the  fishermen  on  the 
quay-side,  to  the  women  of  the  people,  or  with 
the  peasants  who  come  into  the  town  on  market 
days,  it  is  clean  that  they  are  not  German.  But 
what  are  they  then? 

By  the  shores  of  the  sea  which  ought  to  be 
called,  and  which  will  be  called  one  day,  the  Polish 
Sea,  in  Kachoubian  Switzerland,  in  the  midst  of 
the  plains  marked  with  sand-dunes  among  smiling 
lakes,  there  dwells  a  people  numbering  some 
hundreds  of  thousands,  a  joyous,  healthy  people : 
the  Kachoubes.  Polish  grammarians  do  not  agree 
on  the  subject  of  their  language.  Some  consider 
it  as  a  Polish  dialect,  others  as  having  its  origin 
in  the  Slav  tongue,  a  third,  the  younger  school 
(and  these  are  perhaps  right),  see  in  it  the  remains 
of  an  ancient  language,  "  Lechite,"  which  has  been 
extinct  since  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  The  actual  language  of  the  Kachoubes 
is  a  compromise  between  this  ancient  tongue  and 
the  Polish  language.  The  upper  classes  of  the 
Kachoubes  have  been  germanized  for  some 
centuries  ;  they  have  yielded  to  the  attraction  of 
Prussian  culture.     On  the  other  hand,  the  German 


174  POLAND    AS    AN 

colonies  established  some  centuries  ago  with 
Teutonic  thoroughness  have  tended  to  become 
Polish  in  their  characteristics.  One  influence  strove 
with  the  other,  and  the  colonists  were  in  the 
ascendant.  The  Polish  Republic  was  so  tolerant 
that  she  addressed  messages  to  them  in  German. ^ 

To-day  all  these  colonists  have  become  Ka- 
choubes.  The  Polish  element  has  disappeared  from 
castle  and  town,  but  the  peasants  have  remained 
Poles.  All  the  learned  classes  arising  from  the 
people,  the  young  doctors,  lawyers,  and  priests,  are 
Kachoubes,  and  have  retained  the  civilization  of 
Poland.  Following  Dr.  Maykowski,  their  intel- 
lectual leader,  the  younger  generation  consider 
Poland  as  their  fatherland.  This  is  the  reason 
why  Gdansk  will  one  day  become  a  Polish  town.. 
In  days  to  come  the  Vistula,  once  more  the  river 
of  Poland,  will  see  the  mounting  waves  of  the 
Kachoubian  sea  submerge  the  present  town,  and, 
following  the  example  of  Prague,  Gdansk  will 
become  a  Polish  port. 

The  chroniclers  of  the  town  of  Danzig  record 
that   in   the  year    1392,   300   English,   Dutch,   and 

»  M.  Welschinger,  in  the  Revue  Eehdomadaire^  1907,  iv.  5, 
quoted  a  German  Socialist  paper  appearing  in  Alsace,  the 
Volksfreund :  "  For  two  hundred  years  we  have  belonged 
to  France,  and  that  country  has  never  thought  it  necessary  to 
Bteal  our  language  from  us,  or  to  impose  the  French  tongue 
on  us  by  force.  During  the  whole  time  France  made  no 
endeavours  to  conquer  the  country,  only  to  win  it  over. 
King  Charles  X,  when  travelling  in  Alsace  in  1828,  apologized 
to  the  principal  personages  for  speaking  French." 


INDEPENDENT!   ECONOMIC    UNIT      175 

French  vessels  entered  the  port,  and  in  1490,  790, 
In  the  fourteenth  century  there  were  bonds  uniting 
the  commerce   of  Western  Europe  and   Poland. 

Sundered  by  the  partition  of  Poland,  these  ties 
will  be  knit  up  anew.  It  is  a  necessity  for  such  a 
country  to  have  an  outlet  to  the  sea.  The  Vistula 
is  such  a  natural  outlet.  This  great  river,  the 
mainspring  of  the  country's  economic  life,  will  open 
up  vast  horizons ;  it  will  bring  the  Latin  races 
into  close  communication  with  the  shores  of  Poland. 

The  central  idea  emerging  from  all  these  facts  is 
this :  that  there  is  a  natural  necessity  for  the  unity, 
of  Poland,  of  Poland's  personality.  The  eminent 
French  Slavist,  M.  Paul  Boyer,  has  spoken  of  the 
individuality  of  the  Polish  language.*  Submerged 
by  the  Germanic  wave  on  the  west,  and  by  the 
Russian  and  Byzantine  waves  on  the  east,  it 
has  nevertheless  guarded  its  individuality  intact. 
Centuries  have  passed,  centuries  of  grandeur,  a 
century  and  a  half  of  misery,  of  abandonment, 
and  finally  a  century  of  attempts  on  the  part  of  the 
oppressors  to  cut  down  the  national  tree  of  Poland., 
The  trunk  has  been  rent  into  three.  Yet  the  time 
for  its  reuniting  is  coming.  A  consideration  of 
the  material  facts  of  the  life  of  the  Polish  provinces, 
united  in  their  mineral  wealth,  in  their  economic 
structure,  and  by  the  great  artery  of  the  Vistula, 
forces  one  to  believe  in  the  possibility  of  so  simple 
an  idea  as  that  of  a  free  and  independent  existence. 

»  In  a  lecture  given  at  the  "  Ecole  des  Hautes  Etudes 
Sociales"  (1915-16). 


176     POLAND    AS    AN:   ECONOMIC    UNIT 

Surely  the  prophetic  words  that  Strabo  appUed  to 
France  may  apply  here :  "  This  land  is  one  and 
undividable,  not  by  chance,  but  by  the  action  of 
some  great  far-seeing  mind." 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Kelties.     The  Statesman's  Year  Book  (1915). 

Krzyzanowski,  a.,  &  KuMANiECKi,  K.    Statistical  Tables  of  the  Kingdom  of 

Poland.    Cracow,  1915  (in  Polish). 
Zaleski.     Comparative  Statistics  of  the  Kingdom  of  Poland,  1876,  1901,  1913 

(in  Polish). 
Statistical  Annual  of  the  Kingdom  of  Poland.     Warsaw,  1914  (in  Polish). 
ViDAL  DE  LA  Blache.   Tableau  de  la  G^ographie  de  la  France.    Paris,  1903,  p.  7  if. 
Polish  Geographical  Dictionary,  Vol.   VIII,  p.   601  ff. ;   article   "  Poland,"  by 

the  eminent  geographer,  W.  Nalkowski  (in  Polish). 
BujAK.    Galicia,  2  vols.    Cracow,  1908-10  (in  Polish). 
Caspari.     Miscellaneous  articles  in  the  Polish  economic  review  Ekonomista, 

1908-12.     Warsaw. 
Daszynska-Golinska.    Economic    Independence    of    Poland.      Warsaw,    1915 

(in  Polish). 
SzczEPANSKi,  A.    state  of  the  Industrial  Production  of  Galicia  in  1910.    Lwow, 

1912    (in  Polish)  ;    the  same  in  the    Eevue  Politique  et  Parlementaire, 

Vol.  LXXX,  pp.  509-22  (1914). 
WoYCiCKi.    Les  Classes  ouvri^res  dans  le  Eoyaume  de  Pologne.    Louvain,  1909. 
ZuKowsKi.     Commercial  Balance  of  the  Kingdom  of  Poland.    Warsaw,  1901-04 

(in  Polish). 
BiELSCHowsKY,  F.    Textilindustric  des  Lodzer  Rayons  (in  Professor  SchmoUer's 

Staats  und  Sozialwissenschaftliche  Forschungen,  Band  160).     Leipsic,  1912. 
Von  Schultze-Gavernitz.    Volkswirtschaftliche  Studien  aus  Eussland.  Leipsic, 

1899. 
Yanschul.    Report  on  Exploration  of  Industry  in  the  Kingdom  of  Poland  (in 

Russian).     Petrograd,   1888;  the  same  in  the  Russian  review   Vyestnik 

Jewropy.     Petrograd,   1890. 
HoBsoN,  J.  A.    The  Evolution  of  Modern  Capitalism.    London,  1898. 
KoszuTSKi,  St.    The  Great  Industry  in  the  Kingdom  of  Poland  (in  Polish). 

Warsaw,  1901. 
WiTTscHEVSKY,  V.   Russlands  Handels-  ZoU-  und  Industrie-Politik.   Berlin,  1905. 
Verstraete,  M.    La  Russie  Industrielle,  etude    sur  I'Exposition    de    Nijni- 

Novgorod.    Paris,  1897. 
Die  wirtschaftliche  Lage  Galiziens.     (Six  lectures  by  Professors  Bujak,  Buzek, 

Stefczyk,  Twardowski,  and  Zaranski.)    Leipsic,  1913. 
Rymar.    Oil  Industry  of  Galicia  (in  Polish).     Cracow,  1914. 
Zaranski.     On  the  Oil  Industry  (in  Vienna  Parliamentary  Reports  for  the 

year  1910,  No.  903). 
PiECHowsKi.    Vistula  as  a  Commercial  Road  (in  the  Polish  economic  review 

Ekonomista,  1905). 
Keller,  H.   Memel-  Pregel-  und  Weichselstrom,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  248  £f.   Berlin,  1899. 
AuERBACH  in  the  Annales  de  Gdographie,  Vol.  XIII,  p.  234  ff.     Paris. 
RoMBR.     Vistula  (in  the  Polish  review  Kosmos,  1902,  pp.  61-120). 
Sawicki,  L.     Hydrography  of  Poland  (in  the  great  Polish  Encyclopedia  published 

by  the  Pohsh  Academy  of  Cracow,  1913,  p.  266  ff.). 
Pawinski,  a.  E.     Batory  and  Gdansk  (in  Polish).    Warsaw,  1877. 
RopELL.    Geschichte  Polens,  Vol.  I,  p.  8  ff.     1840. 


AN  OUTLINE  OF  THE   HISTORY 
OF  POLISH  LITERATURE 


BY 
JAN  de  HOLEWINSKI 

With  a  Preface  by 
G.   P.   GOOGH 


12 


PREFACE 

It  is  better  for  a  natio7i  to  lose  its  body  than  its 
soul.  If  the  soul  dies,  it  cannot  be  restored ;  but  if 
it  endures,  a  new  body  will  be  created  for  it  in  the 
fullness  of  time.  The  Polish  State  ceased  to  exist 
over  a  century  ago.  Yet  her  bitterest  enerny  would 
not  dare  to  contend  that  Poland  is  dead.  Her  sons 
are  compelled  by  a  cruel  fate  to  slay  each  other  iri 
the  armies  of  Germany,  Austria,  and  Bussia;  but 
they  never  forget  that  they  are  brothers.  They  cling 
tenaciously  to  the  hope  that  the  colossal  crime  of 
Partition  will  be  undone,  and  they  are  resolved  that 
their  nation,  which  played  an  honourable  part  in 
building  up  the  civilization  of  Christendom,  shall 
07ice  again  raise  its  head  and  be  numbered  among 
the  States  of  Europe.  They  know  that  even  after 
a  total  eclipse  the  sun  shines  forth  again  as  brightly 
as  ever. 

Since  1795  the  soul  of  Poland  has  been  kept  alive 
and  nourished  by  its  literature,  its  language,  and  its 
religion.  This  little  book  explains  with  adjnirable 
clearness  and  brevity  the  part  which  literature  has 
played  in  the  life  of  the  race.  For  many  centuries 
Poland  was  one  of  the  largest  countries  in  Europe, 
and  she  has  never  cut  herself  off  from  the  movements 
which    make    up   its  intellectual  .  history.      Cracow 

179 


180  PREFACE 

University  was  founded  in  1400,  and  the  fifteenth 
century  brought  with  it  the  invigorating  influence 
of  humanism.  The  first  blossoming  period  of  Polish 
letters  was  the  century  of  the  Beformation,  when 
KochanowsM,  the  contemporary  and  friend  of  Bonsard, 
presented  his  countrymen  with  their  first  poetical 
masterpieces.  The  sterility  of  the  seventeenth  century 
is  attributed  by  our  author  to  the  paralysing  infiuences 
of  Jesuitism;  but  the  closing  years  of  the  Polish 
State  witnessed  a  marked  revival  of  taste  and  pro- 
duction^ due  to  French  classicism  and  owing  much 
to  the  fostering  care  of  Stanislas  Poniatowslci,  the 
last  King  of  Poland, 

The  best  evidence  of  the  vitality  and  virility  of 
the  Polish  nation  is  that  its  finest  literary  achieve- 
ments are  subsequent  to  the  period  when  its  body 
was  torn  asunder.  The  greatest  name  in  Polish 
literature  is  that  of  Michiewicz,  the  leader  of  the 
romantic  movement,  who  found  a  welcome  and  a 
chair  in  Paris  when  he  was  exiled  from  his  native 
Lithuania.  His  most  famous  tvorJc,  '^  Pan  Tadeusz," 
has  appeared  in  English  dress,  and  his  national 
ballads  are  sung  by  Poles  throughout  the  Old  World 
and  the  New.  Long  after  his  death  his  remains 
were  brought  to  the  Cathedral  of  Cracow,  the  resting- 
place  of  KosciuszJco  and  many  another  hero. 

Next  to  1795  the  year  1863  is  the  saddest  date  in 
Polish  history ;  for  in  that  year  the  few  privileges 
which  Bussian  Poland  had  retained  were  swept  away. 
Our  author  tells  us  that  it  closed  the  romantic  age 
of  literature  and  ushered  in  a  period  of  positivism 
and  utilitarianism.     But  as   the   luminous  star  of 


PREFACE  181 

MicJdewicz  rose  in  the  generation  that  followed  the 
Partition,  so  the  robust  personality  of  SienJciewicz 
brought  comfort  and  stimulus  in  the  dark  years 
which  followed  the  great  revolt,  *^  Quo  Vadis,"  that 
picture  of  the  glory  and  shame  of  Imperial  Home, 
is  hnown  all  over  the  world,  for  it  has  been  translated 
into  more  than  thirty  languages ;  but  for  Poles  the 
significance  of  their  great  compatriot  lies  above  all 
in  his  Polish  historical  novels,  *'Fire  and  Sword"  and 
its  successors,  the  famous  trilogy  which  makes  the 
seventeenth  century,  with  its  fierce  passions  and 
desperate  struggles,  live  again. 

.  England  has  always  felt  a  sympathetic  interest 
in  the  Polish  race,  though  she  has  never  been  able 
to  render  it  much  assistance.  But  to-day  our  fortunes 
are  more  closely  united.  From  the  welter  of  blood 
and  tears  we  look  for  the  emergence  of  a  new  Polish 
State,  purified  and  strengthened  in  the  fires  of 
adversity.  If  our  dream  is  realized,  a  new  chapter 
will  speedily  be  added  to  the  History  of  Polish 
Literature. 

G.  P.  GOOCH. 


X 


AN  OUTLINE  OF  THE   HISTORY 
OF  POLISH  LITERATURE 

The  outward  signs  of  the  life  of  nations  do  not 
consist  alone  in  the  national  institutions  pertain- 
ing to  political  independence,  therefore  the  nation 
which  has  ceased  to  be  politically  must  not  entertain 
a  doubt  of  its  existence  :  verily,  if  a  nation  has 
developed  its  spiritual  powers  and  its  national  genius 
to  the  highest  measure,  and  if  its  spiritual  achieve- 
ments contain  the  elements  of  and  contribute  to  the 
universal  culture  and  civilization,  that  nation  can 
always  say  with  hope  and  pride  :  "  I  create,  so 
I  am."  ^ 


I 


For  the  first  few  centuries  after  Poland  asserted 
herself,  in  964,  as  an  organized  State,  the  low  level 
of  culture  and  the  rule  of  the  sword,  necessitated 
by  the  constant  warfare  on  the  eastern  frontier 
and  the  bitter  struggle  against  the  German  preda- 
tory instincts  in  the  west,  created  an  atmosphere 
in  which  literary  propensities  met  with  little  en- 
couragement. The  spiritual  nourishment  of  the 
people  was  myth  and  legend,  born  of  old  ;    some 

^  Paraphrased  quotation  from  A.  Swietochowski  :  "  Political 
Indications  "  (1883). 


184  AN    OUTLINE    OE    THE 

of  these,  of  great  beauty,  have  come  down  the 
ages   and   still  live  among  us. 

It  is  only  in  the  twelfth  century  that  we  meet 
with  more  extensive  works  than  manuscripts  con- 
sisting of  a  few  leaves.  The  Polish  language  had 
no  existence  in  the  writings  of  these  times  ;  the 
chronicles  of  Gall  (Gallus)  and  of  Kadlubek,  called 
Magister  Vincent,  dating  from  the  second  half  of 
the  twelfth  century,  were  written  in  Latin,  the  lan- 
guage brought  in  the  tenth  century  to  Poland  by 
the  priests.  In  Latin  also  were  written  all  the 
liturgic  books  and  official  documents. 

About  the  year  1400  the  nobility  began  to  rebel 
against  the  predominance  of  the  caste  of  priests, 
who,  being  the  only  educated  element,  used  all 
their  influence  to  direct  the  destinies  of  the  country. 
The  current  of  humanism,  which  about  that  time 
began  to  filter  into  Poland,  broadened  the  minds  of 
the  nobility,  and  helped  them  to  understand  the 
power  of  knowledge  as  a  weapon  in  their  struggle 
against  the  priesthood.  Humanism  came  to  them 
before  it  reached  Germany,  which  country  in  the 
fifteenth  century  was  intellectually  much  inferior 
to  Poland.  The  nobles  began  to  strive  for  educa- 
tion, and  great  was  their  enthusiasm  for  the  Greco- 
Roman  culture.  The  22nd  of  July,  1400,  is  the 
date  of  the  inauguration  of  the  University  of 
Cracow,  then  the  capital  of  Poland.  This  Univer- 
sity had  four  faculties  :  medicine,  law,  philosophy 
and  theology — this  last,  the  oldest,  existing  since 
1367,    gave   the   tone   to    the   University.      Among 


HISTORY    OE    POLISH    LITERATURE      185 


the  most  eminent  representatives  of  Polish 
humanism  are  Celtes,  Kallimach,  and  Gregory  of 
Sanok,  all  of  whom  lived  in  the  beginning  of  th© 
fifteenth  century.  One  of  the  best  writers  of  this 
epoch  was  Erasmus  Ciolek,  called  in  Latin  Vittelus, 
or  Vitelinus,  Canon  of  Cracow  and  Bishop  of 
Plock,  born  1460 ;  a  diplomatist,  scientist,  patron 
of  the  arts,  and  King  Alexander's  secretary  he 
was  often  sent  on  political  missions  to  Italy, 
where  he  was  well  received  at  the  Court  of 
Julius  II,  the  patron  of  Michael  Angelo.  To 
Ciolek,  in  a  measure,  may  be  ascribed  the  influence 
which  Italian  culture  now  began  to  exercise  upon 
Polish  poetry ;  leonines,  Latin  rhymed  verses 
obtained  an  equal  right  of  citizenship  with  the 
usual  hexamete:(;'s  and  distichs.  Latin  was  still  the 
only  literary  language.  Jan  Dlugosz,  born  1415, 
the  first  Polish  historian,  as  compared  with  others, 
who  were  merely  chroniclers,  wrote  his  history 
in  Latin.  Only  the  Rector  of  the  Cracow  Univer- 
sity, Jakob  Parkosz  of  Zorawica,  who  died  in  1455, 
left  a  Latin  treatise  in  which  he  tried  to 
formulate  a  method  of  writing  the  Polish  language. 
The  fifteenth  century  produced  in  Poland  not 
only  great  writers  but  also  great  scientists.  The 
coming  of  Mikolaj  Kopernik  (Nioolaus  Copernicus  ),j 
the  greatest  astronomer  and  mathematician  of  the 
age,  revolutionized  science.  The  first  Polish  printed 
works  belong  to  the  same  century,  as  witness  the 
Paternoster,  Ave  Maria,  and  Credo  to  be  found  in 
the   1475  Synodial  Statutes  of  Konrad,  Bishop  of 


186  AN    OUTLINE    OE    THE 

Wroclaw.  Lay  prose  now  came  to  the  fore,  and, 
although  the  imagination  of  these  times  did  not  make 
for  refinement,  it  must  be  remembered  that  England, 
even  in  the  sixteenth  century,  was  not  shocked  by 
Shakespeare's  gross  humour. 


II 

The  Reformation,  instead  of  provoking  long  and 
bloody  disturbances,  like  the  Hussite  wars  in  the 
neighbouring  Bohemia,  only  widened  the  horizon 
of  the  Polish  mind.  Its  coming  coincides  with  the 
renaissance  of  thought  in  Poland,  known  as  the 
"  Golden  Age  "  of  Polish  art  and  literature.  This 
name  is  more  befitting  to  another — later — period, 
although  the  epoch  which  lasted  from  1500  to  1632 
is  worthy  of  admiration,  not  only  for  its  political 
splendour,  but  for  the  spontaneity  of  the  develop- 
ment of  its  literature,  the  only  one  in  the  history 
of  the  world  which  sprang  into  being,  perfect  and 
in  full  armour,  like  Minerva  from  the  head  of 
Jupiter. 

Protestantism  was  too  deep  a  philosophy  for 
the  masses  to  understand.  A  portion  of  the  Polish 
nobility,  who  embraced  Protestantism  and  rejected 
the  morality  of  the  Catholic  Church  for  themselves, 
still  needed  it  for  the  commoners  to  keep  them 
in  check  ;  besides,  they  could  not  afford  to  allow 
the  privileges  of  their  caste  to  become  subject  to 
the  principle  of  free  investigation  preached  by 
Protestantism.     The  Catholic  reaction  came  soon. 


HISTORY    OK    POLISH    LITERATURE      187 

and  the  great  Protestant  writers  of  the  epoch  too 
quickly  dropped  into  oblivion,  to  be  rediscovered 
and  appreciated  according  to  their  great  merits 
in  a  much  later  time. 

Such  was  the  fate  of  Mikolaj  Rej  of  Naglowice, 
an  eminent  writer  and  wholesome  philosopher 
(1505-69).  The  true  picture  of  the  manners  and 
customs  of  his  time,  with  all  their  defects  and 
beauties,  together  with  the  strikingly  plastic  sil- 
houettes of  his  contemporaries,  seasoned  with  an 
inimitable  humour,  have  come  down  to  us  in  his 
works.  His  incomparable  "  Zwierzyniec,"  a  col- 
lection of  humorous  anecdotes,  reflected  a  fashion 
of  the  time  which  fostered  two  styles  of  writing 
—the  satire  and  the  idyll ;  his  "  Warwas,"  his 
dialogues  of  "  The  Cat  with  the  Lion,"  his  "  Com- 
plaint of  the  Republic"  hold  a  prominent  place  in 
Polish  literature,  but  his  masterpieces  are  the  poem 
"  Postyla "  and  "  Zywot  Czlowieka  Poczciwego  " 
("The  Life  of  an  Honest  Man").  His  language 
in  richness  and  flexibility  is  equal  to  that  of  Orze- 
chowski  and  Skarga. 

The  greatest  figure  of  this  age,  however,  was 
Jan  Kochanowski  (1530-84),  the  contemporary  and 
friend  of  Ronsard.  His  early  poems  were  all  in 
Latin,  but  he  soon  abandoned  this  tongue  for  Polish, 
over  which  he  obtained  great  mastery.  He  was  a 
true  son  of  the  Renaissance,  a  pagan  theist,  in- 
different to  the  Church,  imbued  with  republican 
ideas,  broad-  and  liberal-minded.  His  works  up 
to  the  present  a,re  considered  as  a  model  of  highly, 


188  AN    OUTLINE    OE    THE 

cultured  language,  which,  though  magnificent  in 
"  Fraszki  "  ("  Trifles  " ),  only  reached  its  zenith  in 
the  elegies,  "  Treny,"  he  wrote  upon  the  death  of! 
his  beloved  daughter  Ursula. 

History  also  had  its  representative  in  the  person 
of  Marcin  Bielski,  famous  for  his  chronicles. 

The  Catholic  reaction,  from  among  the  clergy 
and  aristocracy,  brought  to  light  oratorical  geniuses, 
who  condemned  the  disintegration  of  morals  and 
preached  the  return  to  the  bosom  of  the  Church. 
The  year  1543  was  the  turning-point  in  the  need 
of  the  Polish  population  for  literature.  The  works 
of  the  preacher  Orzechowski  (1515-66)  were  in 
enormous  demand!.  A  still  more  celebrated  orator 
was  a  Jesuit,  Peter  Skarga  (1536-1612);  the 
extreme  strength  and  purity  of  his  language  render 
him  comparable  to  the  greatest  orators  of  the 
world,  and  in  one  of  the  fiery  forecasts  he  unrolled 
before  the  Diet  (his  third  sermon)  he  foretold  the 
partition  of  Poland,  which  took  place  two  hundred 
years  later. 

After  this  Jesuitism  seized  upon  Poland,  and  held 
her  in  its  grip  till  the  middle  of  the  leighteenth 
century.  The  influence  of  the  Jesuits  was  enor- 
mous.; they  ruled  the  minds,  the  schools  were  in 
their  hands,  and  they  lowered  the  intellectual  level 
so  that  the  literary  field  became  almost  sterile, 
except,  perhaps,  for  the  traditional  eloquence  ;  even 
this  became  infected  with  ecclesiastical  Latin,  and 
resulted  in  a  macaronic  medley,  without  value  either 
as  Latin  or  as  Polish. 


HISTORY    OE    POLISH    LITERATURE      189 

The  most  commendable  literary  production  of 
these  times  is  "Recollections,  1658-1659,"  by  Chry- 
zostom  Pasek,  a  good  soldier,  who  wrote  the  his- 
tory of  his  Danish  expedition.  He  died  in  1700, 
but  his  memoirs  were  found  and  published  only  in 
1836. 

Ill 

The  depressing  influence  of  Jesuitism  in  Poland 
lasted  till  the  same  classicism,  which  in  the  fifteenth 
and  sixteenth  centuries  as  humanism  and  renais- 
sance regenerated  the  literature  of  all  nations,  re- 
appeared again,  somewhat  modified,  as  French 
classicism,  in  the  shape  of  a  fully  developed,  ready- 
made  system  of  ideas.  In  Roland  the  influence  of 
the  new  current  made  itself  felt  as  far  back  as 
the  reign  of  the  Saxon  dynasty  (Augiust  III).  It 
found  the  ground  prepared  for  its  reception  by  the 
connections  between  the  Polish  and  Erench  Courts, 
but  it  was  the  ascent  to  the  throne  of  King  Stanislaw. 
August  Poniatowski  (1764)— himself  brought  up  in 
France— that  definitely  paved  the  way  for  this 
classicism,  which  had  two  stages  of  development, 
and  may  be  divided  into  two  periods :  the  period 
of  the  reign  of  King  Stanislaw  (1764-95)  and  the 
after -partition  period  (1795-1815).  In  the  first 
period  the  special  care  which  the  King  bestowed 
upon  poetry  favoured  the  development  of  this  art. 
Famous  were  the  King's  Thursday  Dinners  in  the  v^ 
small  palace  of  Lazienki,  at  which  the  painters  of 
the  day  were  welcome  guests  and  poets  had  the 


190  AN    OUTLINE    OE    THE 

opportunity  of  reading  their  verses.  This  even  gave 
some  of  the  works  the  character  of  Court  poetry  ; 
but  French  classicism  was  then  a  new  current 
full  of  force  and  vitality,  it  uplifted  new  banners, 
it  spread  new  movement  and  new  life,  and  begat 
legions  of  clever  and  even  eminent  writers. 

Of  undeniable  literary  value  are  the  lyrics  and 
epics,  odes,  idylls  and  satires  of  the  King's  favourite 
Naruszewicz,  the  songs  of  F.  Karpinski,  the 
erotics  and  fables  of  F.  Kniaznin,  the  reformatory 
efforts  of  Konarski,  the  writings  of  the  .  Jesuit 
Albertrandi,  of  the  priests  Bohomolec,  Staszyc,  and 
the  famous  Kollataj  ;  but  the  best  exponent  of  all 
the  tendencies  of  the  epoch  was  I.  Krasicki,  Bishop 
of  Warmia,  who  succeeded  Naruszewicz  in  the 
favour  of  the  King.  He  was  born  on  February  3, 
1745,  in  the  castle  of  Dubiecko  in  Ruthenia.  His 
first  "  Chats "  appeared  in  1765  in  the  Warsaw 
Monitor^  edited  by  Bohomolec,  but  his  talent  only, 
reached  its  apogee  between  1773  and  1780 ;  his 
humorous  epos  '*  Myszeidos  Songs  X,"  his  *'  Mona- 
chomachia,"  his  serious  heroic  epic  poem  "  Wojna 
Chocimska"  ("War  of  Chotim"),  his  "Pan  Pod- 
stoli,"  his  satires,  fables  and  parables  won  him 
homage  on  his  arrival  in  Warsaw  in  1782.  He 
it  was  who  led  French  classicism  to  its  highest 
degree  of  development  and  ennobled  it  with  his 
talent.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  this  classical 
writer's  translations  of  the  "  Song  of  Ossian  "  and 
Percy's  popular  ballads  were  the  precursors  of  the 
future  developments  of  Polish  literature. 


HISTORY    OE    POLISPI    LITERATURE      191 

The  revolutionary  hurricane  that  swept  over 
France  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and 
provoked  the  shattering  and  violent  change  of 
religious  creeds  there,  had  its  repercussion  in  the 
Polish  atmosphere,  but  cleansed  it  only  and 
brought  to  it  new  ideas.  The  younger  generation 
especially  was  in  constant  communication  with  the 
best  minds  of  France,  seeking  advice  and  moral 
guidance.  Rousseau  gave  this  often,  and  his  in- 
fluence makes  itself  felt  even  in  the  writings  iof 
Staszyc,  though  the  latter  clamours  for  the  con- 
solidation of  the  governmental  power,  shaken  by 
the  institutions  of  the  noble-republican  regime  and 
the  Liberum  Veto.  Voltaire  had  his  followers : 
Trembecki,  Krasicki's  contemporary  and  perhaps 
his  equal  in  talent,  though  of  inferior  moral 
value,  and  his  spiritual  brother  in  Voltaire,  Kajetan 
•Wegierski,  the  less  talented  of  the  two. 

Sad  was  then  the  fate  of  the  theatre,  for  scenic 
art  was  homeless  in  Poland.  An  advantageous 
change  came  in  1779,  when,  by  the  King's  order, 
began  the  erection  of  a  special  building  in  Warsaw. 
In  1781  the  management  of  this  theatre  was  placed 
in  the  hands  of  the  actors,  whence  it  passed  in 
1783  to  Prince  Marcin  Lubomirski,  who,  after  a 
few  months,  was  succeeded  by  W.  Boguslawski, 
whose  merit  in  putting  this  institution  on  a  proper 
footing  won  for  him  the  name  of  the  "  Father  of 
the  P.olish  Theatre."  In  1814  Boguslawski  ceded 
the  directorship  to  his  son-in-law  Ludwik  Osinski, 
retired  to  his  country  seat,  and  died  in  1829. 


192  AN    OUTLINE    OE    THE 

The  most  popular  playwright  of  this  epoch  was 
Zablocki,  a  writer  of  comedy  and  satire ;  his 
"Zabobonnik"  ("A  Man  of  Superstition"), 
"Fircyk  w  Zalotach "  ("The  Fop's  Courtship"), 
"Zolta  Szlafmyca"  ("The  Yellow  Nightcap"), 
"  Malzonkowie  pojednani  przez  swoje  Zony " 
("  Husbands  Reconciled  by  their  Wives " ),  in 
part  bear  traces  of  German  influence  and  in  part 
are  modelled  on  Moliere  ;  they  still  appear,  from 
time  to  time,  on  the  stage,  as  does  also  the  comedy 
with  songs,  "  Krakowiacy  1  Gorale  "  ("  Gracovians 
and  Mountaineers " )  of  Boguslawski,  who  was  a 
better  theatre-manager   than  a  playwright. 

F.  Xav.  Dmdchowski  was  one  of  the  last 
writers  having  all  the  characteristics  of  the  first 
period.  Apart  from  his  own  works,  he  is  known 
by  his  translations  of  Young's  "  Night "  and  Milton's 
"Paradise  Lost." 

Jul j an  Ursyn  Niemcewicz,  born  in  Lithuania  in 
1758,  author  of  "Historical  Songs,"  by  the  whole 
weight  of  his  literary  activity  belongs  rather  to 
the  second  after-partition  period  of  the  reign  of 
classicism,  although  he  was  already  known  as  a 
poet  and  playwright  in  the  time  of  Stanislaw 
August.  He  introduced  into  poetry  the  neglected 
historical  tragedy,  which  was  later  much  in  favour 
with  the  writers  of  the  Duchy  of  Warsaw  epoch. 

The  last  Partition  of  Roland  in  1795  had  for 
result  a  complete  change  in  the  political  and  social 
life  of  the  country,  but  did  not  effect  any  radical 
change  in  the  literature,  except,  perhaps,  for  the 


HISTORY    OF    POLISH    LITERATURE      193 

depression  caused  by  the  religious  reaction  follow- 
ing  on  the  bankruptcy  of  the  extreme  tendencies 
of   rationalism,   and   for   the  tinge  given   to   it  by 
the    same   national    patriotic   ideas   which   impreg- 
nated the  leaning  towards  social  reforms.     Classic- 
ism continued  its  reign  as  the  universally  accepted 
principle,  but  lost  its  vitality  ;    its  defects  became 
painfully   apparent ;    the   striving   after  refinement 
of   form   which    rendered    verses    gem-like,    thanks 
to  the  too -uncritical   application  of  Boileau's  for- 
mula   ("  Vingt   fols   sur   le   ntetier    remettez    votre 
ouvrage,    poUssez    le   sans    cesse    et    le    repolissez, 
ajoutez    quelquefois    et    souvent    effacez " ),    led    to 
mechanical  versification  and  conventionality,  result- 
ing in  the  lack  of  sincerity  and  the  loss  of  indi- 
viduality.     In   his   essay   on  critics  and  reviewers 
the  immortal  Mickiewicz  gives  an  excellent  account 
of   this    epoch :     "  The   verses   of   the   classics,"   he 
says,   "  by   reason   of  the   extraordinary   similitude 
of  the  flow  of  the  verse,  of  the  style,  almost  of  the 
rhyme,  seem  to  be  wrought  from  the  same  metal, 
to  come  from  the  same  mint." 

Thus  French  classicism  neared  the  end  of  its 
days.  Extraordinarily  sterile  poets  laboriously 
carved  their  rhymes  ;  they  toiled  over  worthless 
poems  for  whole  decades.  Kajetan  Kozmian  wrote 
his  "  Ziemianstwo "  ("Landed  Nobility")  for 
twenty  years  ;  Wezyk  translated  the  "  ^Eneid  "  for 
thirteen  years ;  and  Ludwik  Osinski,  who  made 
good  verses  and  translations  of  Gorneille,  lost 
eleven   years   over  his   poem   "  Okolice  Krakowa " 

('Environs   of  Cracow"). 

13 


194  AN    OUTLINE    OF.    THE 

This  epoch  also  produced  a  species  of  poetry 
which  for  its  character  should  not  be  overlooked. 
The  failure  of  Kosciuszko's  insurrection  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  emigration  of  great  numbers  of  the 
proscribed,  and  the  afflux  of  volunteers  enabled 
General  Dabrowski,  with  the  authorization  of  the 
French  Government,  to  create  Polish  Legions  in 
Lombardy  with  the  object  of  combating  Austria^ 
and  the  further  aim  of  reconquering  the  independ- 
ence of  Poland.  The  patriotic  enthusiasm  gave 
birth  to  a  spontaneous  *'  Poetry  of  Legions."  The 
chief  representative  of  this  kind  of  patriotic  poetry 
was  a  legionary,  Cypryan  Godebski.  It  was  on 
Italian  soil  that  Wybicki  composed,  in  1797,  the 
"  Mazurek  of  Dabrowski,"  set  to  music  by  Prince 
Michal  Oginski— the  famous  "  Jeszcze  Polska  nie 
zginela  .  .  ."  ("Poland  is  not  yet  Lost")— which 
was  the  beloved  song  of  the  Legions,  and  in  1831! 
was  raised  to  the  dignity  of,  and  has  since  re- 
mained, the  Polish  National  Anthem. 

In  the  time  of  the  Duchy  of  Warsaw  steadily 
went  on  the  process  of  the  jUnderinining  of  classicisms 
by  new  elements,  which  bore  the  seeds  of  future 
change.  The  imminent  reaction  had  its  forerunners 
in  poets  like  Wincenty  Pieklewski  and  Tymon 
Zaborowski,  still  classical,  but  imbued  already  with 
the  new  propensities,  which  began  to  permeate  the 
European,  and  especially  the  German,  literature. 
The  most  talented  of  these  forerunners  was 
undoubtedly  Andrzej  Brodzinski,  who  played  the 
same    role    towards    the    Polish    intellectual    revo- 


HISTORY    OE    POLISH    LITERATURE      195 

lution  as  Herder  towards  the  German.  He 
was  born  in  Galicia  in  1791  ;  he  took  part  in 
Napoleon's  Russian  campaign,  and  about  1820 
settled  in  .Warsaw,  where  his  lectures  at  the 
University  on  Polish  literature,  Shakespeare,  Goethe, 
Schiller,  and  others,  were  greatly  appreciated.  His 
chef  dceuvre  is  "  Wieslaw,"  an  idyllic  poem  in 
which  traces  of  Goethe's  "  Herman  and  Dorothea  " 
can  be  detected. 


IV 

Transformations  in  literature  are  due  to  the  ^ 
influence  of  great  and  powerful  mental  currents, 
which  are  not  confined  to  one  nation  alone,  but 
embrace  the  larger  part  of  the  civilized  countries. 
The  new  tendencies  percolated  into  Poland  from 
Germany,  which  country  w^as  already  under  the 
English  influence.  It  is  true  that  German  litera- 
ture in  the  last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century 
had  followed  new  pathst— it  was  not  yet  romanticism, 
but  a  movement  that  contained  many  of  its  elements. 
After  the  theories  of  French  classicism  had  been 
repudiated,  new  aesthetic  and  literary  principles 
were  created,  which  required  that  the  imitation 
of  famous  authors  should  be  abandoned,  and  that 
the  substance  and  the  form  should  be  drawn  from 
life  and  reality,  and  be  bound  up  with  the  national 
spirit.  This  path  was  followed  by  Herder,  Buerger, 
Lessing,  Schiller,  and  Goethe,  all  men  of  the  epoch 
of  the  highest  flight  of  German  poetry. 


196  AN    OUTLINE    OF    THE 

In  France  romanticism  was  accepted  much  later, 
although  the  classic  Rousseau  introduced  into  the 
literature  a  fresh  element  opposed  to  the  dry 
rationalism,  namely,  sentimentalism.  Chateau- 
briand, classic  too,  adopted  the  fantastic,  and 
showed  symptoms  of  rebellion  against  Voltairian- 
ism. The  lyric  poet  Lamarti[ne's  activity  has  the 
same  tinge,  but  the  first  decisive  break  with  the 
old  tradition  dates  only  from  the  coming  of  Victor 
Hugo,  who  in  1822  and  1824  threw  down  the 
gauntlet  to   classicism. 

In  England  at  a  much  earlier  date  had  been  pub- 
lished collections  of  popular  poetry  ;  the  "  Song  of 
Ossian "  ("  Remains  of  Ancient  Poetry,"  collected 
in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  and  translated  from 
the  Gaelic  or  Erse  language.  1760);  in  1762 
appeared  "  Fingal,"  in  1763  "Temora,"  and  a  col- 
lection of  old  English  and  Scotch  songs  and  ballads 
("  Reliques  of  Ancient  English  Poetry"),  published 
by  Thomas  Percy  in  1765.  These  works  opened 
up  the  heretofore  unknown  worlds  of  popular 
imagination,  and  of  the  chivalrous  glory  of  knight- 
hood, and  carried  with  them  another  element  of 
regeneration— fantasy.  They  made  a  deep  impres- 
sion not  only  in  Germany  but  in  the  whole  of 
Western  Europe.  Then,  after  Robert  Burns  (1786) 
and  the  Lake  Poets,  began  a  distinct  drifting  to- 
wards romanticism.  The  watchword  was— truth 
and  simplicity.  Then  appeared  Wordsworth  and 
Coleridge ;  but  the  true  romanticism  came  only 
with  Sir  Walter  Scott.     Thomas  Moore  followed  in 


HISTORY    OK    POLISH    LITERATURE      197 

his  footsteps,  and  the  lyrical  Percy  Bysshe  Shelley 
added  to  the  laurels  of  English  poetry  ;  but  the 
pillar  of  the  romantic  edifice,  and  the  main  repre- 
sentative of  the  new  poetry  was  George  Noel 
Gordon,  Lord  Byron,  a  poet  of  genius,  endowed 
with  a  marvellous  power  of  fantasy  and  feeling, 
a  passionate  and  stormy  temperament,  independent 
and  full  of  noble  impulses.  It  is  scarcely  neces- 
sary to  insist  upon  his  extraordinary  influence  on 
the  literature  of  the  world. 

Literary  epochs  throughout  all  ages  are  con-  ^'^ 
nected  like  the  links  of  a,  chain  and  represent 
an  unbrokeji  whole.  In  Poland  the  eighteenth 
century,  by  raising  the  educational  level  and  the 
aesthetic  standards  lowered  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, and  cleansing  the  polluted  language,  gradu- 
ally prepared  the  way  for  the  nineteenth  century, 
which  alone  merits  the  name  of  *'  The  Golden  Age 
of  Polish  Literature  "—the  age  which,  by  the  far- 
reaching  radiation  of  its  influence,  by  the  noble 
character  of  its  ideas,  by  the  supreme  value  of 
its  creations,  banishes  all  former  epochs  to  the 
shadow,  and  shines  with  such  effulgence  that  it 
need  fear  no  eclipse  from  the  suns  that  bliaze  in 
other  literary  firmaments. 

In  Poland  the  romantic  epoch  lasted  almost  fifty 
years,  and  may  be  divided  into  three  periods :  the 
stage  of  its  initial  evolution  commencing  in  1815 
and  ending  with  the  outbreak  of  the  November 
revolution  in  1830  ;  its  highest  flight  between  that 
date  and  1848  ;    its  decline  down  to   1863. 


/198  AN    OUTLINE    OE    THE 

If   one   wished   to    give   the    fundamental   char- 
acteristic of  this  new  literary  tendency,  one  would 
I  have  to  say  that  the  source  from  which  it  sprang 
I  was  the  unusually  powerful  development  of  indi- 
i  vidualism  as  a  factor  in  the  cultural  evolution  of 
civilized  humanity ;    the  individual  apprehends  his 
rights,    breaks    his   fetters,    and   begins   to   display 
his  power  in  all  fields  of  mental,  social,  and  political 
life ;     in    literature   individualism   gives   scope    for 
independence  in  creation  ;    the  works  of  the  epoch 
bear  the  stamp  of  idealism,  sentimentality,  and  fan- 
I  tasy  sometimes  carried  to  exaltation  ;    poetry  has 

(absorbed  not  only  the  folk-lore  and  mediaeval 
legends,  but  everywhere  has  acquired  a  nationalist 
bias. 

This  happened  especially  in  Poland,  where  the 
national  misfortune,  so  strongly  felt  by  the  whole 
nation,  was  bound  to  find  its  expression  in  the 
poetry.  Romanticism  here  did  not  provoke  the 
isolation  of  souls  as  in  Germany,  nor  did  it  render 
them  wildly  independent  as  in  England  ;  on  the 
contrary,  it  drew  them  closer  together  in  an  exalted 
feeling  of  compatriotism.  Polish  romantic  litera- 
ture would  have  a  much  greater  universal  signi- 
ficance were  it  not  for  the  European  ignorance  of 
the  language  in  which  it  is  written  ;  yet  the  direct 
influence  of  the  great  Polish  masters  may  be  ex- 
emplified in  the  power  of  Mickiewicz  over  the 
minds  of  Pushkin  and  Lamennais  ;  the  latter  copied 
Mickiewicz's  "  Book  of  Pilgrimage  "  in  his  "  Word 
of   a   Believer."      Before   the  national   ballads   in- 


HISTORY    OF    POLISH    LITERATURE      199 

spired  the  greatest  poet  of  Poland,  the  way  was 
prepared  for  him  by  the  three  immediate  followers 
of  Brodzinski— by  Malczewski,  Zaleski,  and  Gosz- 
czynski ;  these  form  what  is  called  to-day  the 
Ukrainian    group. 

Antoni  Malczewski  was  born  in  Wolyn  in  1793, 
and  died  when  only  thirty -three,  unknown  and  un- 
recognized. He  was  the  son  of  a  Polish  general, 
and,  as  the  fashion  then  was,  received  the  French 
culture  of  his  sphere.  In  his  travels  he  encoun- 
tered Byron  in  Venice.  Both  belonged  to  the  same 
social  rank,  both  were  melancholy  and  sensual, 
and  soon  became  friends.  There  Malczewski  gave 
Byron  the  idea  for  his  poem  *'  Mazeppa."  Mal- 
czewski's  reputation  rests  on  one  poem,  "  Marja, 
an  Ukrainian  Tale,"  now  one  of  the  most  celebrated 
in  Polish  literature.  It  recalls  in  style  Byron's  early 
epics,  though  it  is  considerably  deeper  in  sentiment. 

Bogdan  Zaleski,  born  in  1802,  is  the  next  of  the 
same  group.  He  sang  the  beauty  of  his  beloved 
steppes  of  the  Dnieperland,  and,  somewhat  mildly 
and  elegiacally,  the  dangerous  life  and  solitary 
death  of  the  Kozak  (Cossack).  One  of  his  best- 
known  poems,  however,  is  "  The  Holy  Family,"  a 
^slightly  bloodless  Christian  idyll.  After  the  col- 
lapse of  the  revolution  in  1831  he  emigrated  to 
Paris,  and,  with  the  great  Polish  masters  Mickie- 
wicz  and  Slowacki,  fell  under  the  influence  of 
Towianski,  a  Polish  mystic  philosopher,  who  exer- 
cised an  extraordinary  power  over  much  greater 
minds  than  his  own. 


200  AN    OUTLINE    OF    THE 

The  third  of  this  group,  Severyn  Goszczynski, 
was  born  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Kief  in  1801. 
He  was  endowed  with  great  dramatic  talent ;  liis 
poems,  in  which  love  takes  only  a  secondary  place, 
sound  like  a  battle -trumpet  or  the  howling  of  the 
tempest.  His  principal  poem  is  the  "  Castle  of 
Kaniow,"  and  treats  of  a  sanguinary  peasant  revolt 
at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

Above  all  other  poets  of  the  epoch  stand,  like 
giant  oaks  amid  saplings,  Mickiewicz,  Slowacki,  and 
Krasinski,  the  Polish  national  prophets.  Of  the 
three  Adam  Mickiewicz  exerted  the  greatest  in- 
fluence upon  the  masses.  He  was  born  on 
December  24,  1798,  near  the  town  of  Nowogrodek, 
at  Zaosie,  a  village  inhabited  by  a  small-holding 
nobility — a  frequent  phenomenon  in  Lithuania. 
While  still  a  child  he,  of  course,  came  much  in 
contact  with  the  villagers,  who  stored  his  mind 
with  tales  and  legends,  which,  as  his  ballads  show, 
were  not  stifled  by  his  education  at  the  Dominican 
monastery  in  Wilno,  where  he  was  sent  in  1808. 
A  particular  feature  of  these  monastic  schools  was 
a  tendency  to  develop  subtlety  of  feeling  as  much 
as  the  mental  powers  of  the  pupils.  Mickiewicz 
studied  at  the  Wilno  University  from  1815  to  1819. 
He  was  a  member  of  both  the  student  societies, 
Philaretans  and  Philomatians,  the  latter  consisting 
of  only  twelve  members  selected  from  the  best 
minds  among  the  students.  ''  Country,  Science,  and 
Virtue "   was  the  watchword  of  these   societies. 

While   still    at  the   University   he   published  his 


HISTORY    OF    POLISH    LITERATURE      201 

first  works  in  the  Tygodnik  Wilenskl  in  1818,  and 
already  the  unguis  leonis  reveals  itself  in  these 
youthful  attempts.  In  1820  and  1821  he  wrote 
all  the  ballads  in  which  we  find  the  reflection  of 
the  tales  he  listened  to  in  childhood :  "  Lilje " 
C  Lilies  " ),  *'  Ucieczka  "  C  The  Fugue  " ),  "  Tukaj," 
"  Switezianka  "  ("Lady  of  the  Switez  Lake"),  and 
"  Romantycznosc  "  ("  Romanticism  " ),  noteworthy 
for  its  expression  of  the  tendency  of  the  epoch, 
declaring  a  preference  for  the  poet's  clairvoyance 
as  against  the  dry  investigating  mind  of  the 
scientist.  Then  he  wrote  the  "  Song  of  the  Phila- 
retans,"  "  Ode  to  Youth,"  several  short  poems,  and 
the  fourth  part  of  his  "  Dziady,"  the  first  poem 
of  betrayed  love  occurring  in  Polish  literature. 
After  this  came  an  innovation  in  the  shape  of 
"  Grazyna,"    a   romance  in  verse. 

Then  the  poet  was  confronted  by  the  grim  realities 
of  life.  Against  the  Society  of  Philaretans  (founded 
in  1820  by  Tomasz  Zan)  proceedings  were  taken 
in  1823  by  the  senator  Nicholas  Novosiltzev. 
Although  these  societies  only  aimed  at  the  intel- 
lectual and  moral  development  of  the  students,  they 
could  not  escape  the  persecuting  fury  of  the  Russian 
authorities  ;  they  were  dissolved,  and  Mickiewicz, 
together  with  the  other  members,  was  imprisoned 
and  exiled  to  Russia.  He  quitted  for  ever  Wilno 
and  his  beloved  Lithuania  on  October  24,  1824. 
After  a  stay  in  Odessa  he  went  to  Moscow,  and 
there  wrote  his  "  Crimean  Sonnets,"  notable  for 
their  marvellous  force  of  expression  and  their  novel 


202  AN    OUTLINE    OR    THE 

style,  scintillating  with  all  the  colours  of  the  East. 
They  were  published  in  1826.  Although  written  in 
Polish,  these  sonnets  made  a  great  impression  in 
Moscow.  Poets  began  to  gather  round  Mickiewicz. 
At  the  house  of  N.  Polevoi,  editor  of  the  Moscow 
Telegrams,  he  met  Pushkin,  and  a  friendship  sprang 
up  between  the  two  young  men.  His  growing  fame 
opened  to  him  the  house  of  Princess  Zeneida 
Yolkonskaia.  To  his  Russian  confreres  gathered 
there  he  read  fragments  of  "  Konrad  Wallenrod," 
published  in  Moscow  in  1828,  the  poem  in  which 
the  sentiment  of  patriotism  finds  its  best  expres- 
sion. It  is  superior  to  "  Grazyna "  chiefly  owing 
to  the  greater  profoundity  of  sentiment,  the  beauty 
and  picturesqueness  of  description,  and  the  ravish- 
ing versification.  In  1828  he  moved  to  St.  Peters- 
burg. There  he  wrote  two  of  his  best  ballads, 
already  free  from  any  agency  of  the  supernatural, 
"Trzech  Budrysow "  ("The  Three  Budrys'*)  and 
"  Gzaty  "  ("  Ambuscade  " ),  and  one  of  his  master- 
pieces, the  poem  "  Farys." 

In  1829  he  received  a  passport  for  Europe. 
Through  Berlin  and  Dresden  he  arrived  at  Weimar, 
where  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  octogenarian 
Goethe,  the  Belgian  savant  Quetelet,  and  the  famous 
French  sculptor  David  d' Angers.  Thence  he  jour- 
neyed to  Rome,  which  he  left  in  1831  for  Paris, 
where  he  came  in  contact  with  the  colony  of  Polish 
exiles  driven  thither  by  the  collapse  of  the  Novem- 
ber revolution.  Paris  depressed  him  greatly,  and 
nostalgia  overwhelmed  him.     He  made  a  desperate 


HISTORY    OK    POLISH    LITERATURE      203 

^effort  to  return  to  her  country,  but  permission 
was  refused  him  by  the  Russian  Government. 
1831  finds  him  in  Dresden,  where  the  third 
part  of  *'Dziady"  was  finished.  This  third 
part,  which  in  logical  sequence  ought  to  follow 
the  fourth,  is  remarkable  for  its  lofty  ideas 
and  its  graphic  representation  of  detail.  In  the 
same  year  he  returns  to  Paris.  Here,  from  his 
gifted  pen,  flow  the  "  Books  of  the  Nation ''  and 
the  "  Books  of  the  Polish  Pilgrimage,"  from  which 
the  quotation,  "  Inasmuch  as  you  broaden  and  im- 
prove your  souls,  so  much  do  you  improve  your 
rights  and  widen  your  frontiers,"  the  best  explains 
its  leading  idea.  Haunted  by  the  memories  of  his 
country  and  his  longing  for  it,  in  1833  he  writes 
the  best  poem  known  in  the  annals  of  literature, 
the  famous  "  Pan  Tadeusz,"  which  he  himself  calls 
the  "  Poem  of  the  Nobility,"  the  most  powerful 
epopoeia  of  the  age,  a  genre  picture  of  the  life  of 
the  Lithuanian  country  nobility,  in  which  the  love 
^nd  passionate  yearning  for  his  country  breathes 
in  every  line  and  in  every  syllable.  European' 
literature  knows  no  other  poetical  work  equal  to 
this  ;  it  is  unrivalled  as  an  account  of  the  beauties 
of  the  Polish  land  which  "  he  saw  and  described, 
for  he  longed  for  it." 

In  1839  the  Chair  of  Latin  Literatures  at  the 
Lausanne  University  was  offered  to  him.  It  was 
in  this  period  that  George  Sand,  through  an  essay 
published  in  the  Revue  des  deux  Mondes,  comparing 
him  to  Byron  arid  Goethe,  made  him  known  to  the 


204  AN    OUTLINE    OF    THE 

world.  In  1840,  after  much  pressing,  he  accepted 
the  Chair  of  Slavonic  Literatures  at  the  Paris  Sor- 
bonne,  where  in  his  lectures  he  proved  to  be  the 
possessor  of  a  wonderful  gift  of  improvisation.  His 
sharp  criticism  of  the  unjust  French  governmental 
policy  was  rewarded  by  the  offer  of  a  long  leav^ 
of  absence  from  his  post,  and  his  resignation 
followed  in  1844,  but  in  1852,  in  view  of  his  great 
merits  and  his  contributions  to  the  store  of  French 
knowledge,  he  was  offered  the  directorship  of  the 
Arsenal  Library.  In  1855  he  went  to  Constanti- 
nople with  the  idea  of  forming  Polish  Legions  to 
redeem  his  country  from  servitude.  He  succeeded, 
but  his  hopes  were  destroyed  by  the  illness  which 
ended  in  his  death  on  November  26,  1855.  His 
embalmed  body  was  transported  on  January  21, 
1856,  to  the  cemetery  of  Monttnorency,  near 
Paris,  and  on  July  4,  1890,  to  Cracow,  where 
with  royal  honours,  it  was  laid  to  rest  in  the 
Royal  Crypt  of!  Wawel  Cathedral,  close  to  Kos- 
ciuszko's  tomb.  The  nation  paid  this  tribute  to  its 
y      greatest  poet. 

There  is  no  other  poetic  genius  of  such  luxuriant, 
luminous,  ethereally  light  fantasy,  and  yet  so  deeply 
and  charmingly  melancholy  withal,  as  Juljusz 
Slowacki,  no  other  who  disposes  of  a  wider  range 
of  sentiment.  He  is  the  poet  of  great  hearts,  capable 
not  only  of  feeling  deeply  but  of  analysing  their 
feelings  ;  in  this  respect  he  is  nearer  our  own  times 
than  is  Mickiewicz.  His  imagination  is  volatile  as 
thought,  flexible,  darting,  rich  as  Nature   herself ; 


HISTORY    OF    POLISH    LITERATURE      205 

his    is   the    poetry   of   deep    thought   and   brilliant 
form. 

He  was  born  on  August  23,  1809,  at  Krzemieniec, 
in  Wolyn.  He  came  of  a  cultured  family,  his  father 
being  a  poet,  and  later,  in  1811,  professor  of  poetry 
and  oratory  at  the  University  of  Wilno,  where 
Slowacki  was  admitted  to  the  public  school,  through 
which  he  passed  in  six  years,  having  always  been 
a  remarkably  good  pupil.  In  1825  he  entered  the 
faculty  of  law  at  the  Wilno  University.  After  having 
finished  his  studies  he  went  in  1829  to  Warsaw, 
where  he  wrote  and  published  his  first  poem, 
"  Hugo,"  in  which  his  untried  wings  are  still 
fettered  by  classicism.  Soon,  however,  he  shook 
himself  free,  and  his  "  Kulig,"  written  shortly  after- 
wards, already  shows  unmistakable  traces  of  his 
imaginative  genius. 

The  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  of  1830  was  to 
him,  as  to  many,  a  surprise.  He  left  Warsaw  in 
March  1831  for  Dresden,  where  a  mission  was 
confided  to  him  together  with  a  letter  to  General 
Grouchy,  who  was  then  in  London.  Slowacki  liked 
England,  where  he  greatly  enjoyed  his  short  stay, 
but  September  9th  found  him  already  in  Paris. 
There  he  published  two  small  volumes  of  poetry, 
which  were  received  with  an  indifference  painful  to 
the  young  poet.  Publishing  the  third  volume  in 
1833,  he  wrote  in  the  preface  :  "  Neither  encouraged 
by  praise,  nor  killed  as  yet  by  criticism,  I  throw  this 
third  volume  into  the  gulf  of  silence  which  has 
swallowed  the   other  two."     Recognition   came   to 


206  AN    OUTLINE    OE    THE 

him  later.  His  Byronism  at  this  time  was  extreme. 
All  six  of  his  romances  in  verse,  "  Hugo,"  "  Arab," 
*'Mnich,"  "Jaa  Bieleeki,"  "Zmija,"  "  Lamhro,'' 
and  both  his  dramas,  "  Mindowe "  and  "  Marja^ 
Stuart,"  have  in  common  the  same,  sometimes 
insufficiently  justified,  violence  of  feeling  and 
intentional    complication   of   action. 

In  1834  in  Geneva  he  wrote  and  published 
anonymously  "  Kordjan,"  a  drama,  the  hero  of 
which  is  the  embodiment  of  the  Polish  national 
spirit.  This  was  the  work  in  which  his  genius 
fully  revealed  itself.  Fragments  of  "  Kordjan  "  can 
bear  comparison  with  the  best  passages  from  the 
works  of  Shakespeare  and  Schiller,  In  the  same 
period  he  wrote  his  drama,  "  Balladyna,"  which  is 
slightly  akin  to  "  King  Lear,"  but  the  combination 
of  divers  elements  of  tragedy  which,  with  a  char- 
acteristic contempt  of  rules,  he  succeeds  in  har- 
monizing, confers  upon  it  the  stamp  of  originality. 
About  the  same  time  he  wrote  the  tragedy  "  Horsz- 
tynski,"  of  which  only  a  few  fragments  have 
reached  us.  Some  innocent  love  entanglements 
drove  him  to  Veytoux,  and  there,  in  1835,  he  com- 
posed the  superb  lyrics,  "  Rozlaczenie  "  ("  Part- 
ing " ),  "  Przeklenstwo  "  ("  The  Malediction  " ), 
"Stokrotki"  ("Daisies"),  and  "The  Last  Adieu 
to    Laure." 

A  journey  to  Egypt  and  Palestine  contributed 
not  a  little  to  the  enrichment  of  his  imagination, 
and  resulted  in  his  writing  "The  Voyage  to  the 
Holy  Land,"   the  "  Hymn  at  Sunset  on  the  Sea,'^ 


HISTORY    OE    POLISH    LITERATURE      207 

**  To  Teofil  Januszewski,"  "  Letter  to  Alexander 
H.,"  "Pyramids,"  and  ''The  Father  of  the  Plague- 
stricken,"  a  short  poem  descriptive  of  the  despair 
of  a  father  imprisoned  in  quarantine  and  unable  to 
save  the  lives  of  his  children,  who  die  one  by  one. 
This  is  perhaps  the  best  poem  of  the  series  from  a 
structural  point  of  view.  In  1837  he  returned  to 
Florence,  bringing  with  him  one  of  his  most 
original  works,  the  prose  poem  "  Anhelli,"  written 
in  the  calm  of  the  Betheshban  Monastery  at  the 
foot  of  Mount  Lebanon.  In  this  poem  he  leads 
us  among  the  exiles  in  Siberia,  and  shows  us  their 
sufferings  and  his  visions  of  the  restoration  of 
Poland.  One  does  not  know  which  to  admire  the 
most,  his  unbounded  imagination  or  his  prose,  to 
which,  disdaining  the  use  of  pathos,  he  gives  the  im- 
pressiveness  and  voluminousness  of  flowing  music. 
In  Florence,  surrounded  by  souvenirs  of  Dante,  he 
wrote  two  poems,  *'  Piast  Dantyszek,  Herbu 
Leliwa "  and  *'  Waclaw,"  neither  of  which  belong 
to  his  best  works,  in  contrast  to  his  next  poem,  *'  In 
Switzerland,"  which  is  one  of  his  chef  d'oeuvres. 
He  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days  in  Paris, 
where  he  returned  in  December  1838.  From  1839^ 
to  1841  he  wrote  two  groups  of  works,  with  dis- 
tinct traces  of  Byronism  in  the  first,  and  with  the 
criticism  of  Byronism  resounding  loudly  in  the 
second.  To  the  first  group  belong  the  dramas^ 
*'  Lilla  Weneda "  and  "  Mazepa,"  and  a  tragedy 
"Beatrix  Cenci";  to  the  second  his  incomparable 
"  Voyage  to  the  Holy  Land,"  "  Inoorrigibles,"  andl 


208  AN    OUTLINE    OE    THE 

"  Beniowski."  In  the  latter  poem,  in  spite  of  his 
abjuration  of  Byronism,  Byron  was  his  leader.  In 
this,  the  ripest  of  his  masterpieces,  sound  faint 
echoes  of  "  Don  Juan,"  just  as  much  as  of  Ariosto's 
"  Orlando  Furioso."  His  heroes  are  merely  a  pre- 
text, a  peg  on  which  to  hang  the  digressions  which 
are  continually  either  making  incursions  into  the 
realm  of  his  personal  emotions  or  fulminating 
against  the  critics,  or  sending  sword -thinists  into 
the  domain  of  religion,  society,  and  politics,  and 
are  ever  ranging  from  frivolity  and  gaiety,  tender- 
ness and  melancholy,  to  irony,  satire,  and  biting 
sarcasm.  Although  his  uncontrollable  genius  some- 
times overthrows  the  propriety  of  form,  it  is  done 
in  such  brilliant  fashion,  and  in  such  vibrant  lan- 
guage, that  one  waits  with  impatience  for  the 
thrilling  pleasure  of  a  recurrent  occasion.  Later 
he  published  the  mystic  dramas  "  Ksiadz  Marek " 
("  Priest  Marek  " ),  1843;  "  Sen  Srebrny  Salomei  " 
("The  Silver  Dream  of  Salomea"),  1844;  and 
"Krol  Duch"  ("King  Spirit"),  unfortunately  left 
unfinished.  The  basic  idea  of  this  last  poem  is 
the  transmigration  of  the  soul,  which,  through  in- 
describable sufferings,  triumphs  over  evil  and 
reaches  perfection.  Slowacki  died  in  Paris  on 
April  4,  1848.  His  body  was  transported  to  the 
church  St.  Philippe  du  Route  and  buried  at  the 
cemetery  of  Montmartre,  where  it  still  remains. 

Although  Count  Zygmunt  Krasinski  was  not  the 
creator  of  the  Polish  philosophic-political  poetry— 
in  this  he  had  been  forestalled  by  the  prematurely 


HISTORY    OF    POLISH    LITERATURE      209 

deceased  Stefan  Garczynski— he  it  was  who  brought 
it  to   the  highest  pitch   of  perfection..     He  voiced 
noble    and    lofty    principles,    strove    for   the    har- 
monious co-operation  of  all  social  classes,  stirred    / 
universal    problems,    made   extensive   philosophical  / 
generalizations,  and  so  linked  Polish  poetry  to  the/ 
poetry  of  other  civilized  nations.  / 

No  one  of  the  great  Polish  poets  developed  ia 
such  early  youth  as  Krasinski.  He  was  born  in 
Paris,  in  an  aristocratic  sphere,  on  Eebruary  19, 
1812.  Baroness  de  la  Haye  superintended  his  up- 
bringing, and  her  grateful  nursling,  at  the  age  of 
six  years,  wrote  for  her  stories  under  the  title  of 
*'  La  Bonne  Fee  Marie."  When  only  fifteen  years 
of  age  he  wrote  a  fair-sized  historical  novel,  natur- 
ally full  of  heartrending  tragedies,  entitled  "  The 
Tomb  of  the  Family  of  Reichstal,"  published  in 
1828.  A  certain  routine  can  be  discerned  in  his 
next  historical  novel,  "  Wladyslaw  Herman  and  his 
Court."  This  was  published  in  1830,  when  he 
was  already  abroad.  He  visited  Switzerland  and 
Italy,  and  from  this  period  dates  the  short  fragment 
"  Exile,"  which  he  wrote,  together  with  a  number 
of  other  works,  all  unfortunately  lost  except  "  Agaj 
Han"  (published  in  1834),  an  historical  novel,  the 
heroine  of  which  was  the  Tsaritsa  Maryna  after  the 
assassination  of  the  false  Dmitry.  In  this  youthful 
novel,  where  the  outline  of  the  principal  characters 
is  not  yet  sufficiently  firm,  he  makes  a  tentative 
effort    to    impress    by    a    pathetic    and    sonorous 

language. 

14 


210  AN    OUTLINE    OE    THE 

The  democratic  movement  of  these  times  (Louis 
Philippe)  in  France  directed  his  mind  towards 
more  general  problems  and  towards  poetry,  "  which 
gathers  eternity  and  the  infinite  under  its  wings." 
He  found  himself  confronted  with  the  problem : 
what  is  to  be  the  result  of  the  war  declared  by, 
the  French  Revolution  on  the  ideals  of  the  past? 
In  1833,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  he  wrote  his 
"  Godless  Comedy,"  a  fantastic  drama.  He  intended 
it  to  be  "the  defence  of  what  is  attacked  by  the 
rabble :  religion  and  the  glory  of  the  past "  ;  but 
inspiration  carried  the  poet  away— it  did  not 
permit  him  to  become  an  upholder  of  the  interests 
of  one  class,  but  gave  him  a  deep  insight  into 
the  social  and  political  movement  in  its  entirety. 
The  impressive  close  of  this  dramatic  poem 
cries  that  not  the  fratricidal  struggle,  but  love 
alone,  will  lead  humanity  to  true  liberty  and 
happiness. 

The  winter  of  1834  Krasinski  spent  in  Rome, 
where  he  wrote  his  second  fantastic  drama 
"  Irydion,"  which,  although  placed  in  an  imaginary 
epoch,  testifies  to  the  poet's  profound  eruditeness 
in  the  matter  of  Roman  customs  of  the  third  cen- 
tury. From  1836  he  published  nothing  till  1841, 
then  appeared  the  short  prose  poem  "  Temptation  " 
and  "  A  Summer  Night "  ;  these  were  followed  by 
"Three  Thoughts  remaining  after  the  late  Henryk 
Ligeza,"  "  Legend,"  "  The  Son  of  Darkness,"  "  The 
Dream  of  Cesara,"  a  small  treatise  "The  Trinity 
and  the  Incarnation  "  and  another  "  On  the  Eternal 


HISTORY    OE    POLISH    LITERATURE      211 

Life."  In  1845  he  published  "The  Psalms  of  the 
Future"  (Faith,  Hope,  and  Love),  in  which  he  is 
rather  a  publicist  than  a  poet,  and  several  short 
lyric  poems. 

He  died  in  Paris  on  February  23,  1859. 

Sprinkled  among  the  great  stars  of  the  literary 
^firmament  were  many  minor  poets,  often  friends 
and  followers  of  the  illustrious  masters.  Ballads 
were  in  favour  with  A.  E.  Odyniec  (1804-84)  and 
Al.  Chodzko  (1804-91).  Juljan  Korsak  (died  1855), 
although  a  worshipper  of  the  great  poets,  did  not 
succumb  to  the  prevailing  balladomania.  The 
secret  of  the  widespread  popularity  of  some  of 
these  minor  poets  was  that  they  so  well  formulated 
the  views  and  catered  for  the  sentimental  needs 
of  the  epoch.  The  best  known  are  Konstanty 
Gaszynski  and  AVincenty  Pol,  a  man  of  real 
talent. 

Of  course  the  critics  waged  a  bitter  war  against 
the  new  romantic  tendencies.  The  most  talented 
of  them,  Maurycy  Mochnacki  (1804-34),  in  his 
essay  on  the  Polish  literature  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
vtury,  was  unable  to  reconcile  his  German  aesthetic 
rules  with  the  all-invading  romanticism,  which, 
however,  conquered  him  later.  F.  S.  Dmo- 
chowski's  rage  drove  him  to  write  a  good  deal  of 
nonsense  on  the  subject,  and  only  a  wide  know- 
ledge of  European  literature  led  the  incisive 
critic,  F.  Morawski,  to  stand  by  the  new 
ideas. 

The  field  of  philosophy  yielded  a  rich  harvest. 


/ 


212  AN    OUTLINE    OF    THE 

Jozef  Kremer  was  the  first  to  acquaint  Poland  with 
HegeFs  system.  More  independent  than  the  former 
was  F.  B.  Trentowski,  whose  writings  made  a  deep 
impression  on  Mickiewicz.  A  characteristic  sign 
of  the  times  was  that  Karol  Libelt  desired  to  base 
his  philosophical  system  on  the  popular  creeds, 
and  to  construct  a  philosophy  of  imagination,  un- 
like his  contemporary,  Count  August  Cieszkowski, 
who  endeavoured  to  create  a  philosophy  of  will ; 
but  the  most  gigantic  mentality  among  the  Polish 
philosophers  of  the  period  was  that  of  Jozef  Hoene- 
Wronski  (1778-1853).  There  was  no  field  of 
science  that  this  marvellous  mind  did  not  make 
its  own. 

The  fertile  soil  of  this  epoch  also  produced 
novels  in  the  modern  sense  of  the  word,  as,  for 
instance,  "  Unwise  Vows "  by  Felix  Bernatowicz. 
The  historical  novel  had  itj  representative  in  Count 
Fryderyk  Skarbek,  Professor  of  Political  Economy, 
at  the  Warsaw  University.  The  theatre  was  sup- 
plied with  drama  by  Jozef  Korzeniowski  and  with 
comedy  by  Count  Alexander  Fredro,  a  man  of 
hearty  jovial  laughter,  whose  works  have  not 
escaped   the    romantic   contagion. 

Romanticism  is  immortal ;  it  has  outlived  forms 
of  art  and  schools  of  art.  The  succeeding  epoch 
of  positivism  could  do  no  more  than  cover  it  with 
a  layer  of  ashes,  and  we  inevitably  return  to  it  in 
the  present  day  ;  but  none  of  our  present  creative 
spirits  is  fantastic  or  mystic :  positivism  has 
stamped  them  with  its  brand.     The  new  romanti- 


HISTORY    OF    POLISH    LITERATURE      213 

cism  is  a  healthy  enthusiasm  that  quickens  to 
ecstasy  our  feelings  for  Nature,  love,  friendship, 
common  memories.  In  few  literatures  this  abiding 
romanticism  has  attained  to  an  expression  of  such 
beauty  as  in  the  Polish. 


In  1848  the  world-wide  outburst  of  national 
feeling  disturbed  the  atmosphere  in  Poland.  It 
had  not  for  result  any  important  political  change 
in  Europe,  nor  did  it  lessen  the  Polish  attachment 
to  romanticism,  which,  although  it  sank  nearer  to 
earth  after  the  great  national  poets  became  silent, 
still  upheld  in  Polish  souls  the  hope  of  the  speedy 
restoration  of  independence.  It  was  only  the  catas- 
trophic failure  of  the  1863  insurrection  that  tore 
the  rosy  bandage  of  illusion  from  the  eyes  of  the 
people  and  showed  them  the  stark  reality.  This 
catastrophe  did  not  kill  the  national  spirit,  but 
the  rivers  of  blood  shed  for  the  motherland,  the 
absence  of  her  best  sons,  rotting  in  prisons  or 
exiled  in  long,  winding  processions  to  Siberia, 
weakened  the  nation's  physical  force.  Several  years 
of  prostration  and  much -needed  recuperation  had 
to  elapse  before  the  country  could  return  to  work, 
under  a  new  watchword,  however,  lent  by  Augusta 
Comte's  positivism,  which  found  a  ready  echo  in 
the  wearied  minds  of  the  Polish  people.  Romanti- 
cism   was    pushed    on    one   side   by   the    might    of 


214  AN    OUTLINE    OE    THE 

practical  reason ;  science  became  utilitarian  and 
politics  sober  under  the  influence  of  the  categorical 
imperative,  "  Be  positive  1 "  and  all  became  positive,, 
even  poetry. 

The  most  prominent  representative  of  this  epoch 
—still  living  to-day — is  Alexander  Swietochowskij. 
the  champion  of  reason  and  the  rights  of  man. 
He  was  a  good  author  but  a  better  publicist,  and 
his  influence  upon  the  Polish  mind  was  very  deep. 
His  generation,  however,  cannot  boast  a  single 
genius,  a  single  hero.  It  was  several  years  before 
the  national  pulse  quickened  and  the  literature 
gathered  force  and  once  more  spread  its  mighty 
branches  abroad  in  the  face  of  the  sun.  Meanwhile 
the  prevailing  positivism  directed  the  minds  towards 
scientific  research ;  historical  studies  undertaken 
in  Lwow  and  Cracow  gave  important  results.  In 
the  domain  of  belles-lettres  about  1880  Jozef 
Ignacy  Kraszewski  still  held  undisputed  sway. 
This  exceedingly  prolific  author  was  not  of  the 
race  of  eagles,  but,  had  he  no  other  merits,  we 
should  be  indebted  to  him  for  the  staunching  of 
the  flood  of  cheap  French  novels  and  their  replace- 
ment by  his  own  works,  imbued  with  a  warm  love 
of  the  nation  and  its  history,  in  which  subject  he 
was  profoundly  versed. 

Positivism  found  its  best  exponent  in  the  person 
of  Eliza  Orzeszko  (Orzeszkowa).  Her  novels  are 
hymns  of  praise  to  the  ideals  of  progress,  know- 
ledge, duty.  She  has  shown  great  intuition  in 
grasping  the  character  of  the  then  nascent  social- 


HISTORY    OE    POLISH    LITERATURE      215 

ism    in    Poland.      Her    "  Meir   Ezofowicz "   is   the  y 
defence  of  the  man  in  the  Jew. 

The  novelist  J.  Zacharjasiewicz  gave  us  pseudo- 
progressive  novels  confined  to  a  narrow  circle  of 
domestic  virtues.  One  of  the  very  few  writers  of 
this  epoch  to  fight  against  Philistine  tendencies  and 
resignation  to  fate  was  T.  T.  Jez,  who  died  in  y 
1915,  as  an  exile  in  Switzerland.  Of  his  numerous 
works  the  novels  dealing  with  the  Southern  Slavs 
are  especially  attractive.  Among  the  Galician  pro- 
gressists the  most  popular  was  M.  Balucki,  a  faith- 
ful henchman  of  the  lower  middle -class  as  of  a 
free  and  conquering  social  element.  A  defender 
of  the  ideals  of  the  same  class,  but  with  a  much 
greater  breadth  of  understanding,  was  the  satiric 
and  witty  Jan  Lam. 

The  "Magnus  Parens"  of  modern  Polish  poetry 
was  Adam  Asnyk,  a  man  of  delicacy  of  sentiment 
rather  than  any  robuster  qualities.  In  his  younger 
days  he  had  dreamed  a  dream  of  souls  who  feel 
their  power,  but  after  the  collapse  of  the  last  Polish 
insurrection,  in  which  he  took  part,  a  deep  change 
came  to  the  poet's  mind.  He  then  gave  his  country 
in  beautiful  crystalline  musical  lyrics  the  result  of 
his  long  logical  meditations.  But  it  was  left  to 
iMarja  Konopnicka,  the  greatest  of  Poland's  ^^ 
women-poets,  to  add  a  new  string  to  the  poet's 
lyre :  the  people,  in  the  modern  acceptance  of  the 
word.  To  her  powerful  talent  are  due  many 
literary  achievements  of  rich  and  varied  form*;  one 
of   the   latest   is    "  Mister    Balcer    in    Brazil,"    the 


216  AN    OUTLINE    OF,    THE 

people's  epopee,  as  *'  Pan  Tadeiisz  "  of  Mickiewicz 
is  the  epopee  of  the  nobility.  It  stands  out  not 
only  as  a  literary  landmark,  but  as  a  frontier  post 
in  the  culture  of  the  people ;  it  signifies  that  the 
nation  has  risen  above  the  class  spirit,  and  has 
admitted  the   people  to  its  Pantheon. 

Other  poets  of  this  epoch  of  the  disintegration 
and  failure  of  positivism  were  W.  Gomulicki,  a 
son  of  rationalism,  the  first  prominent  and  the 
most  refined  representative  of  what  is  called  "  The 
School  of  Parnassus "  ;  Cz.  Jankowski,  an  excel- 
lent lyric  poet  and  a  brother  spirit  of  Baumbach 
and  Heine,  without  the  poison  of  Heine's  sting ; 
A.  Urbanski,  K.  Brzozowski,  both  singers  of  hero- 
ism and  martyrdom,  and  W.  Stebelski,  noteworthy 
only  for  the  fact  that  in  his  works  sound  the  first 
strains  of  a  further  stage  of  development  in  the 
evolution    of   literature— lof  decadence. 

The  plays  of  the  epoch  do  not  testify  to  the 
existence  of  any  great  talent  among  the  playwrights. 
There  was,  however,  Jozef  Szujski,  historian,  author 
of  several  important  works,  whose  occupation  as  a 
professor  of  the  University  did  not  estrange  him 
from  literature,  and  who  wrote  historical  dramas 
full  of  hopeless  bitterness.  Other  theatrical  fields 
were  taken  possession  of  by  the  mediocrity. 
Musical  comedy  (operette)  and  farce  had  a  French 
flavour,  and  comedy,  deep  in  the  grey  realities  of 
life,  did  not  dazzle  by  the  radiance  of  the  authors' 
talent. 

During  the  chilly  era  of  positivism  the  mass  of 


HISTORY    OF    POLISH    LITERATURE      217 

country  gentry,  stranded  on  the  pavements  of  the 
town  by  the  economic  crisis  due  to  the  policy  of 
the  Russian  Government,  were  forced  to  change 
their  skins,  but  in  the  new  envelope  of  an  employe 
or  an  engineer  still  dwelt  the  soul  of  the  nobleman 
of  yesterday,  with  all  its  wealth  of  instincts  and' 
traditions  ;  their  adoration  of  the  past  and  love 
for  the  naltional  distinctiveness  were  bound  to  burst 
the  crust  of  self-criticism  and  utilitarianism.  The 
inevitable  reaction  came,  and  created  the  atmo- 
sphere necessary  to  Henryk  Sienkiewicz  for  the 
full  development  of  his  potent  individuality.  The 
democratic  and  progressive  was  his  preferred  type 
in  his  early  novels,  but  the  moment  the  first  pro- 
test against  positivism  became  audible,  Sienkiewicz 
turned  towards  the  past  and  spread  its  treasures 
magnificently  before  the  nation.  His  trilogy 
"  Ogniem  i  Mieczem  "  ("  Ry  Fire  and  Sword  " ), 
"Potop"  C'The  Deluge"),  and  *' Pan  Wolody- 
jowski  "  are  not  books,  but  great  deeds.  The  nation 
was  yearning  for  a  stimulus,  was  panting  for  fuller 
breath,  and  it  received  a  whirlwind  of  memories 
and  enthusiastic  visions.  Although  his  heroes  are 
average  men,  not  of  the  race  of  philosophers,  this 
incomparable  artist  has  made  them  so  extraordi- 
narily plastic  that  they  live  to-day  among  the  people 
as  indubitable  historical  truths.  He  is  a  master  in 
the  art  of  stirring  the  deepest  emotions,  as  may 
be  found  by  the  readers  of  his  short  stories  and 
his  less  voluminous  works,  but  he  is  too  great 
a  plastic  artist  to  be  quite  fortunate  in  his  search 


218  AN    OUTLINE    OE    THE 

for  ideas  in  the  modern  whirlpool  of  psychological 
conflicts.  The  intrinsic  value  of  his  novels,  "  With- 
out Dogma  "  and  "  The  Family  of  Polanieckis,"  is 
due  alone  to  his  immense  talent,  which  made 
"  Without  Dogma  ^'  a  masterpiece  of  descriptive 
psychology,  though,  against  his  intention,  it  is 
rather  a  tragedy  of  love  than  of  faith,  just  as  "  The 
Family  of  Polanieckis "  is  an  attempted  synthesis 
of  all  the  spiritual  elements  of  the  epoch,  for  which 
he  tried  to  discover  a  formula.  The  moment  he 
returned  to  the  domain  of  history  he  created  two 
chefs  d'ceuvre,  the  world-famed  "  Quo  Vadis  "  and 
"  Cruciferi,"  both  planned  on  an  heroic  scale,  and 
studded  with  gems  of  untold  beauty.  "  Cruciferi  " 
is  a  story  of  love,  masterfully  embroidered  on  the 
background  of  the  historic  struggle  of  Poland 
against  Germanism.  It  is  very  characteristic  of 
Sienkiewicz  that,  having  brought  the  language  to 
the  acme  of  vigour  and  purity,  he  uses  it  as  a 
painter  uses  the  colours  of  his  palette.  He  acts 
upon  the  mind  through  the  eyes  ;  one  could  almost 
say  that  he  writes  with  as  potent  a  brush  as  that 
of  Matejko,  and  his  strokes  are  as  j>owerful  a& 
those  of  Michael  Angelo's  chisel.  The  Nobel  prize 
and  the  national  gift  of  a  piece  of  land  in  token 
of  admiration  were  but  a  feeble  expression  of  the 
universal  appreciation  of  his  talent. 

From  1883  Warsaw  was  ruled  by  his  Excellency 
General  Hurko  and  his  wife  Maria  Andreievna. 
Jankulio  raged  then  at  the  head  of  the  Board  of 
Censors,  and  Apuchtin  as  the  Curator  of  the  Polish 


HISTORY    OE    POLISH    LITERATURE      219 

Educational  District.  Then  began  the  extermina- 
tion of  all  that  was  Polish— the  bleeding  of  Lithu- 
ania, the  strangling  of  Podlasie.  To  heap  up  the 
measure,  in  1885,  Bismarck,  in  his  anti-Polish 
madness,  raised  the  cry  of  ''  AusrottenT  This 
stirred  the  Polish  national  spirit  to  its  depths. 
The  country  people,  on  whom  the  brunt  of  the 
persecution  fell,  became  an  object  of  purely  social 
sympathy  and  care.  A  movement  was  started,  and 
in  it  Jan  Kasprowicz  found  his  inspiration,  and 
gave  to  literature  the  real  peasant,  heavy  but  strong, 
his  broad  bosom  filled  with  the  love  of  his  land,  to 
which  he  is  bound  by  every  fibre  of  his  being. 

This  epoch  fostered  a  hardy  and  warlike  gene- 
ration, straining  its  force  to  the  greatness  of  its^ 
task,  and  not  choosing  the  task  commensurate  with 
its  strength.  There  is  Napierski,  the  analyst  of 
his  reflections;  there  are  the  youthfully  fiery  tem- 
peramental poets,  Nowicki  and  Andrzej  Niemo- 
jewski ;  there  is  Adam  Szymanski,  whose  prose 
"  Sketches "  have  the  melancholy  of  a  song  of 
Siberian  exiles  ;  there  is  the  optimistic  Boleslaw 
Prus  (Alexander  Glowacki),  a  powerful  plastic 
talent,  the  disciple  of  positivism,  the  bonds  of  which 
he  breaks,  however,  when  it  proves  too  narrow 
for  him,  an  adept  in  accurate  science  and  a  writer 
of  strong,  manly  sentiment.  His  "  Placowka " 
i("  The  Sentinel  ")  and  "  Powracajaca  Fala  "  ("  The 
Returning  .Wave " )  are  synthesis  of  feeling  ;  the 
same  synthesis  nins  through  the  novels  "  Lalka " 
X"The  Doll  ")  and  "  Faraon  "  ("  Pharaoh  "),  which 


220  AN    OUTLINE    OE    THE 

tells  of  the  young  ruler's  vain  efforts  to  apply  his 
noble  ideas  of  justice  to  the  accepted  order  of 
things.  In  this  work,  which  is  translated  into  all 
European  languages,  Prus  reaches  complete  inward 
harmony. 

The  eminent  painter  and  writer,  Stanislaw  Wit- 
kiewicz's  vigorous  study,  "  Our  Art  and  Criticism," 
violently  polemical  in  tone,  burst  open  the  door 
for  the  friends  of  naturalism,  carrying  the  banners 
of  Stendhal,  Balzac,  Zola,  Daudet,  and  Maupassant. 
The  ideas  of  naturalism  attracted  men  of  great 
talent,  such  as  Adolf  Dygasinski,  in  whose  novels 
and  stories  the  lead  is  taken  by  Nature,  and  who 
proves  to  possess  the  brain  of  a  scientist  and  the 
heart  of  a  poet.  Naturalistic  too  is  Mme.  Gabryela 
Zapolska  in  her  descriptions  of  the  neurosis  of 
great  cities.  Until  the  neo -romantic  current  carried 
him  with  it  Ant.  Sygietynski's  objectivism  and 
anatomical  methods  linked  him  to  the  same  school, 
to  which  belong  also  the  resigned  and  melancholy 
Ostoja  and  Z.  Niedzwiedzki,  a  misanthropic  denun- 
ciator of  the  beast  in  man. 

The  last  echoes  of  the  war  against  positivism 
sound,  meanwhile,  in  the  novels  of  T.  Jeske- 
Choinski,  A.  Krechowiecki,  and  Marja  Rodziewicz, 
and  in  the  stories  of  Cecylja  Walewska  and  W. 
Kosiakiewicz,  but  the  realism  of  the  last-named 
becomes   dull    and   commonplace. 

Naturalism  had  the  merit  of  imposing  upon 
writers  the  obligation  of  absolute  sincerity  and  of 
a  thorough   knowledge  of  the  subject  treated,  but 


HISTORY    OF    POLISH    LITERATURE      221 


it  was  too  narrow  a  doctrine  to  encompass  the 
heights  and  depths  of  the  human  soul ;  it  could 
not  last  long  in  its  initial  stage,  and  from  imper- 
sonal objectivism  in  its  evolution  passed  into  im- 
pressionistic subjectivism.  In  this  form  it  was 
adopted  by  the  most  talented  masters  of  the  craft. 

Sever,  in  a  great  variety  of  themes  and  ideas, 
gives  a  remarkably  subtle  feeling  of  the  beauty 
of  the   Polish   countryside. 

W.  St.  Reymont,  a  powerfully  expansive 
elemental  nature,  feels  the  best  the  characteristic 
phenomena,  and  loves  the  best  the  unmixed  poetry 
of  the  elements.  The  drawing  of  his  intellectual 
types  is  not  always  flawless,  but  in  "  Chlopi  "  ("  The 
Peasants " )  his  forceful  picturing  ol  the  souls  of 
the  Polish  peasants  and  their  patriotism,  spring- 
ing from  the  love  of  their  land,  has  something  of 
the  grandeur  and  indomitableness  of  the  elements 
among  which  they  live.  This  work  has  been  trans- 
lated into  English,  French,  and  German.  The 
present  war  stopped  the  publication  of  his  last 
creation,  "The  Year  of  1794,"  in  which  in  glowing 
words  he  paints  the  epoch  of  the  last  Partition 
of  Poland. 

Stefan  Zeromski,  a  gigantic  talent,  has  absorbed' 
the  elements  both  of  romantic  heroism  and  of  the 
strong  faith  of  positivism.  Throughout  his  works 
vibrates  the  note  of  pain  and  bitter  suffering  of 
his  generation ;  for  his  subtle  yet  keen  feelings 
evil  is  the  substance  of  the  uniyerse,  and  Ahriman 
always  triumphant ;    for  him  the  instinct  of  duty^ 


222  AN    OUTLINE    OF    THE 

is  heroism.  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  a  better  har- 
monized compound  of  lofty  ideals,  volcanic  tem- 
perament, and  close  study  of  the  epoch  than  is 
contained   in    his    "  Popioly "    ("Ashes"). 

iW.  Sieroszewski  is  a  man  concentrated,  crys- 
tallized, and  strong.  His  types  are  inspired  with 
Jiis  faith  in  nature  and  man,  and  have  the  strength 
and  calm  of  statues.  His  exile  provided  him  with 
rich  material  for  those  delicately  carved  gems,  his 
stories  from  Siberia.  His  "Flight  from  Siberia" 
is  translated  into  English.  In  his  "  Beniowski " 
he  emphasizes  the  power  of  human  genius  over 
the  wild  forces  of  the  Kamtchatkan  nature,  and  the 
horrors  of  its  eighteenth -century  exile  settlements. 
While  the  activity  of  these  impressionist  prose- 
writers  was  throbbing  with  life,  the  need  of  new. 
ideas,  the  longing  for  great  art,  made  itself  felt 
in  poetry.  It  could  not  be  satisfied  by  the  gifted 
poets  then  straying  through  this  realm.  S.  Ros- 
sowski,  Or-ot  (Artur  Oppman),  the  painter  of  the 
vanishing  world  of  Napoleonic  worshippers,  St. 
AVierzbicki,  and  K.  Glinski,  the  epigons  of 
romanticism,  and  the  exquisite  and  refined  Adam 
M  .  .  .  ski,  possess  pleasant  sounding  but  one- 
chord  ed   lutes. 

At  the  same  time  there  now  strikes  as  in  France 

for     many-stringed     poetic     souls     the     hour     of 

y^      decadence ;     they    look    for    inspiration    in    every 

domain   of  the  external  world  instead  of  seeking 

it    within    their    own    breasts,    and    bcc(Mne,    like 

y     Antoni    Lange,    virtuosos   of   form   but   lacking   in 


HISTORY    OF    POLISH    LITERATURE      223 

substance.  Some  writers,  like  Belmont,  Mankowski, 
and  Ig.  Dabrowski  may  be  defined  as  men  "with- 
out dogma." 

Through  the  melancholy  of  the  exhaustion  of 
the  fin  de  siecle  the  outlines  of  a  new  culture 
become  perceptible  in  the  propaganda  of  the 
poet  Miriam  (Zenon  Przesmycki),  an  aesthetic 
thinker,  a  mystic  monist  basing  his  art  on  the 
ideas  of  Maeterlinck  and  du  Prel ;  but  the  most 
arresting  and  dolorous  expression  of  the  modern 
longings  for  unattainable  happiness  has  been  found 
by  Kazimierz  Tetmajer,  the  poet  of  the  Tatra 
Mountains,  who  has  asserted  himself  as  a  great 
talent  not  only  in  poetry  but  also  in  his  Tatra 
stories,  and  has,  perhaps,  reached  his  full  develop- 
ment in  his  latest  novel,  "  Napoleon's  Epopee,"  in  -' 
which  he  throws  an  entirely  new  light  on  the 
famous   Moscow   expedition. 

In  its  turn  Cracow  rears  a  young  generation 
that  throws  dovsm  the  gauntlet  to  the  "  ancients." 
Modernism  is  their  watchword,  but  the  substance 
of  the  new  tendency,  the  leading  idea,  is  to  express  ^^ 
with  sincerity  the  true  emotions  of  the  moment.  The 
advance  guard  in  Warsaw  of  this  new  movement 
were  W.  Lieder,  Mme.  M.  Komornicka,  and  C. 
Jellenta.  The  Cracow  group  passed  from  impres- 
sionistic to  individualistic  modernism,  and  soon  the 
young  band  grew  so  numerous,  and  so  strongly 
felt  the  need  of  drawing  more  closely  together,  that 
when,  in  1897,  Ludwik  Szczepanski  founded  the 
weekly  Zycie   (Life),  all  the  modernists  met  under 


224  AN    OUTLINE    OF    THE 

its  banner.  This  weekly — a  sort  of  continuation 
of  Miriam's  Zycie^  which  appeared  some  ten  years 
previously  in  Warsaw—undertook  "  the  disinfection 
of  the  musty  literary  atmosphere."  All  the  men  of 
aspirations  were  to  be  found  there:  Miriam,  Tet- 
majer,  Kasprowicz,  Jellenta,  Komornicka,  and  the 
still  more  recent  Zulawski,  Rydel,  Wyrzykowski, 
Perzynski,  St.  Pienkowski,  Orkan,  MirandoUa,  and 
Lada.  These  were  soon  joined  by  Stanislaw 
Przybyszewski,  till  then  resident  in  Germany, 
where  he  won  laurels  and  wide  renown  for  his 
writings    in    German. 

The  editorship  of  Zycle  pjassed  iinto  the  hands 
of    Sever,    after    whom    Przybyszewski,    the    most 
talented,    the    most    influential,    and    the    strongest 
representative  of  young  Poland,  took  the  direction 
of  the  paper.     This  keenly  intellectual,  spiritually 
minded  man  gave  precedence  to  the  soul  over  the 
brain.      For    the    brain   things   exist   in   time    and 
in  space  ;    for  the  soul  exist  only,  non -limited  by, 
space  and  time,  the  ideas  of  things.     It  was  this 
soul    of   things    he   endeavoured   to    reach   and    to 
sound.     The  spiritual  force  of  his  works  has  exer- 
cised   a    strong   influence    on   the   development   of 
Polish  literature.     This  author  has  become  silent ; 
over   his    standard   Time    has    passed   a   softening 
hand,    slightly    effacing    its    colours,    but    Przyby- 
szewski's  influence  brought  to  literature  an  element 
of  such   depth  of  thought  that  since  his  time  the 
Ivory    Gate    of    Poetry    is    closed    to    intellectual 
mediocrities. 


HISTORY    OF    POLISH    LITERATURE      225 

The  modernist  movement  in  Polish  literature 
coincides  with  the  important  internal  social 
changes.  The  caste  of  nobility  lost  its  prestige, 
and  the  town  element,  the  middle-class,'  became 
prepondierant,  consequently  a  genre  that  played  a 
certain  role  in  literature— the  tale  of  the  country 
nobility,  with  its  broad  gesture  and  its  old-style 
Polish  humour— became  extinct.  The  last  to  cul- 
tivate this  genre  were  K.  Laskowski,  S.  Kondra- 
towicz,  and  Abgar  Sol  tan.  Artur  Gruszecki's  talent 
is  above  the  level  of  this  group,  although  his  world 
of  nobility  is  too  corrupt  to  be  true  to  reality. 

Jozef  Weyssenhoff  lives  in  an  entirely  different 
world— a  world  well  born  and  well  brought  up, 
a  world  of  refined  nerves  and  subtle  aesthetic 
culture.  He  himself  is  a  nature  of  extreme  refine- 
ment, and  his  tact,  incomparable  artistic  measure, 
and  apparent  reserve,  mask  a  heart  pulsing  strongly 
with  the  love  of  the  land  and  its  people.  In  beau- 
tifully chiselled  language  he  stirs  a  wide  range 
of  emotions.  His  novels,  "  Sprawa  Dolegi " 
("  Dolega's     Case " )     and     "  Pamietniki     Podfilip- 

^  The  Polish  middle-class  is  still  in  process  of  formation. 
It  is  true  that  in  Poland  of  old  there  was  a  class  of  burgesses, 
but,  in  spite  of  their  wealth  and  numbers,  their  influence  was 
strictly  limited  by  a  nobility  jealous  of  its  privileges.  The 
constitution  of  May  3,  1791,  gave  to  the  burgesses  equal  rights 
with  all  classes.  The  later  influx  of  dispossessed  country 
gentry  to  the  towns,  l)ringing  with  them  refinement  and 
culture,  gave  an  intellectual  bias  to  the  growing  middle-class, 
so  that  now  the  patent  to  it  is  given  not  by  wealth  or  social 
standing,  but  by  the  degree  of  intellectual  development.  The 
name  of  the  middle-class  in  Polish  is  "  Intelligentsia." 

35 


226  AN    OUTLINE    OF    THE 

skiego  "  C  Podfilipski's  Memoirs  " ),  are  genuinely 
fine,  but  the  flower  of  his  talent  blossoms  fully 
in  one  of  his  latest  achievements,  "  Sobol  i  Panna  " 
("A  Sable  and  a  Maid"),  in  which,  together  with 
the  poetic  side  of  sport,  he  displays  his  deep  ad- 
miration of  the  landscape  and  his  wise  compre- 
hension of  youthful  feelings  and  the  noble  impulses 
in  human  nature.  Through  all  his  works  runs  a 
thread  of  gentle  satire,  as  subtle  as  the  author 
himself.  He  might  be  compared  to  Anatole  France, 
had  the  latter  Weyssenhoff's  depth  of  feeling. 

The  influence  of  Przybyszewski  and  his  band 
would  have  been  more  durable  had  not  their  indi- 
vidualism so  completely  severed  art  from  life, 
before  they  became  aware  of  the  asthenia  result- 
ing from  this  estrangement.  The  most  gifted  of 
this  group  of  poets,  W.  Perzynski,  complains— 

With  no  young  faith  into  the  world  I  go, 
No  suns  of  hope  suffuse  my  soul  with  light, 

The  years  have  rolled — so  many  and  so  slow, 
Through  my  dark  room  at  night. 

The  decadent  works  of  K.  Lewandowski,  St. 
Brzozowski,  and  even  the  exquisite  artificiality  of 
E.  Leszczynski  bear  the  same  stamp;  Jerzy 
Zulawski  alone  seeks  a  new  synthesis.  About  this 
time  Jan  Kasprowicz's  talent  returns  to  earth,  and, 
like  Antseus,  from  its  contact  his  poetic  person- 
ality   gains    in    strength. 

In  the  bitter  times  that  followed  the  instinct 
of  self-preservation  drove  the  Poles  again  to  seek 


HISTORY    OF    POLISH    LITERATURE      227 

salvation  in  the  national  ideas.  The  bowing  down 
to  foreign  gods  did  not  satisfy  the  poets.  An 
attempt  was  made  by  Lucjan  Rydel  to  nationalize 
the  stage  by  the  introduction  of  the  Polish  fable, 
but  his  high  artistic  culture  was  not  adequately 
supported  by  a  creative  imagination.  Tetmajer  on 
analyzing  his  soul  discovered  there  the  need  of 
"  Polish  Saints  "  ;  Zeromski,  Reymont,  and  Kas- 
prowicz  had  felt  this  intuitively,  attaching  them- 
selves to  the  landscape,  the  people,  and  the 
sufferings  of  Poland.  Stanislaw  Szczepanowski 
having,  in  1897,  sacrificed  his  parliamentary  career 
and  come  to  Cracow  to  better  serve  the  national 
cause,  gave  expression  to  the  national  feelings  in 
his  work  "The  Polish  Idea  and  Internationalism." 
His  fiery  appeals  aroused  the  romanticism  lying 
dormant  at  the  bottom  of  everyone's  soul.  Then 
came  Stanislaw  Wyspianski,  the  man  who  was  a 
national  revelation.  He  chose  the  stage  as  the 
medium  through  which  Polish  neo-romantic  poetry 
should  be  heard  again,  and  in  soul -stirring  tones 
give  voice  to  the  deepest  national  emotions.  The 
national  my|h  Was  his  substance,  which,  with  all  the 
force  of  his  genius,  he  incarnated  in  tragedy.  The 
synthesis  of  the  yearning  of  the  Polish  nation  for 
might  he  gave  in  his  "  Legion,"  the  antithesis  in 
"Wesele"  ("The  Marriage  Feast").  In  all  re- 
spects he  was  an  exceptional  phenomenon.  He 
came  from  the  world  of  pictorial  art,  in  which 
his  labours  were  of  short  duration,  but  his  achieve- 
ments testified  again  to  the  immensity  of  his  talent. 


228  AN    OUTLINE    OF    THE 

He  was  an  artist  to  the  marroWi  of  his  bones,  a 
lover  of  beauty,  a  lover  of  purity,  and  yet  the 
extent  of  his  talent  was  such  that  it  enabled  him 
to  descend  deep  into  naturalism  and  from  thence 
rise  to  the  summit  of  the  sublimest  symbolism. 
With  the  same  force  he  depicts  realistic  scenes 
and  visions  of  the  world  beyond.  The  works 
of  Wyspianski,  conceived  in  a  lightning-flash  of 
inspiration,  he  chisels  and  elaborates,  constantly 
testing  them  with  the  touchstone  of  his  high 
critical  standard.  Death  bereaved  Polish  litera- 
ture of  him  all  too  soon,  but  his  spirit  still  stands, 
and  will  ever  stand,  like  a  pillar  of  fire  for  the 
enlightenment  and  guidance  of  the  nation.  He 
marked  an  epoch  in  Polish  poetry,  and  inaugu- 
rated the  era  of  neo-romanticism.  Under  his 
breath  decadence  melted  away,  the  soul  of  the 
nation  became  regenerated,  and  poetry  nationalized. 

From  the  seeds  of  his  sowing  sprang  a  host 
of  young  worshippers  of  might :  W.  Orkan,  with 
his  songs  of  the  foothills  of  Tatra ;  Danilowski, 
with  his  vision  of  purity,  goodness,  and  salvation  ; 
L.  Staff,  with  the  Promethean  soul  ;  T.  Micinski, 
endowed  with  an  extraordinary  and  original 
poetical  organization,  is  more  akin  to  the  mystics 
of  Spain  or  Belgium  than  to  the  romanticists  of 
Poland.  Eagles  are  his  companions,  and  if  his 
flight  is  lower  than  that  of  Wyspianski,  it  is  more 
sustained,  more  equal. 

The  great  moral  influence  of  the  Polish  poetry 
of  recent  years  is  due  not  to  its  didactics  but  to 


HISTORY    OF    POLISH    LITERATURE      229 

its  high  artistic  value.  When  we  read  such  master- 
pieces as  "  On  the  King's  Lake  "  of  Tetmajer,  "  By 
the  Sea "  of  Przybyszewski,  "  Ahriman  Revenges 
Himself  "  of  Zeromski,  "  Dies  Irse  "  of  Kasprowicz, 
"  Legion  "  of  Wyspianski,  "  Oaks  of  Czarnobyle  " 
of  Micinski,  we  soar  to  such  a  height  that  we  lose 
sight  of  all  that  crawls  and  creeps  upon  the  face 
of  the  earth,  and  we  begin  to  discern  how  beau- 
tiful, reposeful,  and  stimulative  the  God  of  Good- 
ness must  have  intended  Nature  and  Life  to  be. 
But  this  becomes  perceivable  only  from  the  height 
at  which  our  souls  begin  to  vibrate  in  unison  with 
the   symphony    of   the   Universe. 

Poland  through  her  literature  has  demonstrated 
to  the  world  an  inexhaustible  amount  of  vitality. 
Moreover,  her  spiritual  achievements  contribute  to 
the  universal  culture,  and  it  is  only  for  the  universe 
to  avail  itself  of  the  treasures  displayed  before  it. 


A     SKETCH     OF     THE 
HISTORY  of  POLISH  ART 

BY 

JAN  de  HOLEWINSKI 


A   SKETCH    OF    THE    HISTORY 
OF   POLISH    ART 


And  only  the  Master  shall  praise  us. 
And  only  the  Master  shall  blame, 
And  no  one  shall  work  for  money, 
And  no  one  shall  work  for  Fame. 
RuDYARD  Kipling 

L'Envoi— "  The  Seven  Seas.'* 


There  w^as  a  time  when  the  preconceived  idea 
that  the  Polish  nation  was  racially  destitute 
of  artistic  capabilities  had  made  headway  in 
many  minds,  so  thoroughly  and  well,  that  few 
students  of  the  evolution  of  European  art  thought 
it  necessary  to  give  their  attention  to  the  art  of 
Poland.  Even  some  Polish  historians  (Professor 
Klaczko),  otherwise  perspicacious  aesthetes,  having 
cursorily  skimmed  through  the  pages  of  the  artistic 
past  and  found  it  void  of  Polish  Titians,  Michael 
Angelos,  da  Vincis,  and  Velasquezs,  proclaimed  the 
nation  to  be  artistically,  sterile.  The  later  brilliant 
development  of  art  in  Poland  contradicts  this 
opinion  and  shows  that  they  assessed  the  nation's 
capacities  over-hastily,  without  having  taken  into 
consideration  the  fact  that  the  hoofs  of  war-steeds 
bring  death  to  the  subtle  and  exquisite  flower  of 
art,  which  prospers  under  the  careful  tending  of 

233 


231  A   SKETCH    OF 

the  cultivator  in  the  bahny  atmosphere  of  luxury, 
but  refuses  to  blossom  on  the  trampled  battle-field. 
The  geographical  situation  of  Poland  laid  her 
open  to  every  invasion  of  her  plundering  neigh- 
bours. The  lack  of  natural  defences  had  for  result 
that  the  country  was  constantly  sv^ept  by  storms 
of  violence  depriving  it  of  any  rest,  even  in  the 
periods  between  the  great  catastrophes,  which 
deserve  rather  the  name  of  cataclysms.  Thus  in 
1240  the  bloodthirsty  hordes  of  Mongol  savagery, 
under  Baidar  and  Pet  a,  leading  with  them  a 
portion  of  the  Batu  horde,  rolled  over  the  land 
like  a  tidal  wave,  to  be  stemmed  by  the  Polish 
knighthood  only  under  the  walls  of  Lignica  in 
Silesia  (re -christened  Liegnitz  by  the  Germans). 
Twenty  years  later  the  barbarians  returned  to 
change  Sandomierz  and  Cracow  into  smouldering 
heaps  of  rubble.  Before  the  latter  town  the 
third  invasion,  under  the  Nogai  Han,  was  broken 
in  the  reign  of  Leszek  the  Black,  but  the 
defenceless  towns  and  villages  paid  a  bloody 
tribute  to  the  invaders,  who,  faithful  to  the 
tradition  of  Tchingis  Han,  left  behind  them  only 
the  sky  and  the  earth.  Over  21,000  Polish  girls 
were  carried  off  into  yassyr  (slavery),  and  every 
man  was  put  to  the  sword.  Of  a  like  character 
were  the  Turkish  invasions,  and  the  Cossack 
wars  which  ended  at  the  battle  of  Beresteczko 
in  1651;  these  were  followed  by  the  Swedish 
invasion  (1655-60)  of  Carolus  Gustavus,  which, 
advancing    from    the    north,    flooded    the    country 


THE    HISTORY    OE    POLISH     ART     235 

as  far  south  as  Cracow  and  Lwow ;  a  study 
of  the  further  history  of  Poland  shows  a  continual 
recurrence  of  similar  events  even  up  to  the  present 
day. 

Compared  with  these  gigantic  life-and-death 
struggles  the  mediaeval  inter -republican  Lom- 
bardian  wars  seem  almost  farcical,  especially 
since  the  profession  of  arms  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  condottieri.  We  may  smile  at  the 
description  of  those  glorious  battles,  where  a 
couple  of  handfuls  of  hirelings  paced  and 
traversed,  and  battered  at  each  other's  plates  of 
steel  from  dawn  till  dusk.  Their  mutual  considera- 
tion was  touching.  The  battle  of  Aughiari, 
immortalized  by  Michael  Angelo  and  Leonardo  da 
Vinci  in  the  famous  Florence  cartoons,  bereaved 
the  world,  according  to  Machiavelli,  of  two  heroes 
slain  through  some  misadventure.  It  is  easy  to 
understand  that  the  Master-painters  of  some  Sienna 
or  Florence  could  quietly  and  happily  give  them- 
selves up  to  their  inspiration,  while  without  the  city 
iwalls  the  mercenaries  so  sparingly  shed  their  blood 
for  the  honour  of  their  republics. ' 

The  terrific  hecatombs  exacted  from  Poland  by 
the  repeated  invasions,  which  left  no  stone  upon 
another,  each  time  broke  the  continuity  of  her 
artistic  traditions,  because  not  only  the  works  of  art 
themselves  but  the  accumulated  experience  of  the 
past  and  the  secrets  and  methods  of  the  craft  were 
again  and  again  irretrievably  lost.  Each  time  it 
*  See  T.  Jaroszynski,  "  Zaranie  Malarstwa  Polskiego,'*  1905. 


236  A   SKETCH    OE 

was  necessary  to  start  afresh,  under  the  most 
unfavourable  conditions,  in  a  society  whose  minds 
had  been  shaped  in  a  peculiar  way  by  the  stress 
of  circumstances.  The  country  was  continually  on 
the  qui-vive,  and  the  knighthood,  trained  to  an 
incessant  vigilance  and  a  rough  camp  life,  could 
not  indulge  in  the  cultivation  of  their  aesthetic  needs. 
Austerity  was  considered  the  principal  virtue  of 
the  knights^  proud  of  their  position  as  the  defenders 
of  their  country  and  of  Christendom,  and  conscious 
that  under  the  protection  of  their  shields  European 
culture  was  enabled  to  grow  and  develop.  They 
were  the  foremost  of  the  nation,  and  required  the 
highest  regard  and  privileges  for  their  caste,  looking 
with  a  disapproving  eye  on  the  growth  of  the  class 
of  burgesses,  who,  it  was  feared,  might  achieve 
power  through  the  development  of  industry  and 
commerce.  The  middle-class  was  harassed  for 
luxury  in  dress  and  domestic  appurtenances,  and 
forbidden  to  wear  certain  colours,  jewels  and 
weapons ;  for  the  commons  the  possession  of 
pictures  was  considered  as  a  punishable  offence. 
With  these  opinions  prevailing  among  the  all- 
powerful  caste  of  nobility  it  is  not  to  be  wondered; 
at  that  from  the  burgesses,  even  at  a  time  when 
they  were  safely  sheltered  within  the  walls  of  their 
towns,  sprang  no  patrons  of  art,  such  as  the 
famous  Italian  parvenu,  Giovanni  dei  Medici  of  the 
Renaissance.  It  is  true  that  the  artistic  disposition 
of  the  courts  temporarily  spread  to  the  magnates, 
but  their  needs  were  catered  for  by  foreign  artists, 


THE    HISTORY    OF    POLISH     ART     237 

imported  from  the  West  and  even  from  the  East ; 
aesthetic  tastes,  however,  had  for  long  been  given  no 
opportunity  of  penetrating  to  the  core  of  the  nation 
so  as  to  awaken  tlie  national  creative  spirit.  But  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  in  the  time  of  unwavering  faith, 
Polish  art,  if  it  did  not  occupy  a  prominent  place 
among  the  general  cultural  attainments,  presented 
a  homogeneous  whole  bearing  certain  characteris- 
tics, which  raised  it  to  the  importance  of  a  distinct 
school. 

The  nascent  art  in  Poland  was  confined  within 
the  narrow  limits  of  the  professional -religious 
congregations,  to  enmesh  itself  later,  when  it  passed 
into  lay  hands,  in  a  tangle  of  trade -regulations 
which,  in  principle,  put  a  restraint  upon  its  further 
development.  In  its  time,  nevertheless,  it  strongly 
manifested  its  vitality,  sufficed  for  the  requirements 
of  the  epoch,  and  in  the  fourteenth,  fifteenth,  and 
the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  centuries  produced 
works  which  cannot  be  esteemed  lightly  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  history  of  art. 


CHAPTER    I 

The  question  as  to  what  popular  art  was  in  Poland 
in  the  pre-Christian  epoch  is  outside  the  sphere 
of  artistic  history— properly  so  called.  Ethnologists 
have  rightly  determined  that  the  art  of  the  people  re- 
mains immutable  throughout  the  ages,  only  becoming 
gradually  enriched  by  some  new  feature  borrowed 
from  the  artists — that  is  to  say,  from  the  creators 
of  plastic  art.  It  would  be  inexpedient,  therefore, 
to  consider  popular  art  in  the  study  of  the  evolu- 
tionary progress  of  the  artistic  achievements  of  a 
nation.  History  commences  only  from  the  moment 
when  art  takes  the  shape  of  a  profession,  handing 
down  the  wealth  of  technical  knowledge  from  one 
generation  to  another. 

Such  art  did  not  spring  up  spontaneously,  but 
was  brought  to  Poland  in  the  tenth  century  together 
with  Christianity,  with  which  the  era  of  the  civiliza- 
tion of  this  country  opens.  The  level  of  art  was 
nowhere  very  high  at  this  time.  The  iconoclasm 
of  the  eighth  century  had  severed  it  from  the 
classic  traditions.  Semitic  in  character,  Byzantin- 
ism,  which  was  rather  Church -craft  shackled 
in  regulations  forged  at  Mount  Athos,  was 
commonly   adopted  throughout   Europe  even  until 


THE    HISTORY    OF     POLISH     ART     239 

the  commencement  of  the  thirteenth  centui-y  ;  it 
is  surprising  how  the  generation  which  professed 
an  ascetic  contempt  for  the  beauty  of  the  body 
craved  for  the  debauchery  of  magnificence  in  dress 
in  their  paintings  ;  this  love  of  adornment  gave 
scope  for  applied  art ;  the  craft  of  the  gold- 
smith took  precedence  of  sculpture,  weaving  and 
embroidery  of  painting.  A  sufficient  number  of 
the  objets  d'art  of  this  period  have  escaped 
destruction  to  testify  to  the  aesthetic  needs  of  the 
nation.  There  are  still  in  existence  chalices,  patins, 
covers  of  missals  and  crosses  embellished  with 
enamel,  niello,  or  mosaic.  From  the  tenth  century 
comes,  among  others,  the  enamelled  reliquary 
belonging  to  the  Cathedral  of  Kujawy,  and  from 
the  twelfth  century  the  one  kept  in  the  church  of 
Czerwinsk. 

The  current  of  Byzantinism  flowing  through  Kiev 
from  the  east  met  in  Poland  with  Romanism 
brought  thither  by  the  monks  of  the  West,  probably 
by  the  Benedictines  installed  in  1006  at  Sieciechow 
by  King  Boleslaw  the  Great.  Although  Romanism 
eventually  triumphed,  no  traces  of  it  are  to  be 
found  in  pictorial  art.  The  Tartar  tempest  which 
ravaged  the  countiy  at  the  end  of  the  Roman  epoch 
destroyed  both  the  pictures  then  painted  on  wooden 
panels  and  the  mural  paintings  in  the  churches  ; 
the  degree  of  the  development  of  pictorial  art  in 
Poland  is  thus  rendered  even  more  uncertain  than 
its  beginnings  in  other  northern  countries,  where 
very  scanty  relics  still  remain.    France  in  St.  Savin, 


240  A   SKETCH    OF 

near  Poitiers,  and  Germany  in  Schwartzheimdorf, 
near  Bonn,  possess  the  only  two  churches  in  which 
are  preserved  paintings  dating  from  the  eleventh 
century.  The  sole  relics  of  the  epoch,  which  may 
be  of  some  guidance  to  the  student  of  Polish  art, 
are  the  miniatures  illuminating  sacerdotal  books. 
Although  a  portion  of  these  must  have  come  from 
the  brushes  of  the  foreign  clergy  domiciled  in 
Poland,  they  may  be  considered  as  proofs  of  the 
quality  of  the  artistic  culture  of  contemporary 
craftsmen.  In  the  ornamentation  of  writings  Celtic 
motifs  preponderated,  thanks  to  the  spread  through- 
out the  Continent  of  Irish  manuscripts,  which 
reached  as  far  as  Leodium  and  Wuertzburg,  and 
from  there  passed  to  Poland,  where  they  served  as 
models. 

Stone  structure  was,  in  the  country  of  forests, 
a  new  feature  also  introduced  by  the  immigrant 
monks,  Cistercians  and  Benedictines ;  the  latter 
began  in  the  eleventh  century  the  erection  of  the 
cathedral  in  the  Wawel  Castle  in  Cracow.  The 
architects  of  later  generations  rebuilt  it  in  the 
fourteenth  century  in  the  Gothic  style,  so  that  of 
the  original  Roman  edifice,  there  remain  only  a  few 
fragments  of  walls  and  the  crypt.  Of  the  other 
Roman  churches  built  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth 
centuries,  the  cathedrals  of  Plock,  of  Kruszwica 
in  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Posen,  and  of  Leczyca, 
and  the  walls  and  towers  of  the  Church  of  St. 
Andre  in  Cracow  partly  retain  their  original  style, 
as    do    five    or    six    smaller    churches    scattered 


THE    HISTORY    OF    POLISH     ART     241 

throughout  the  country.  In  a  few  of  these  still 
remain  sculptures  of  this  epoch,  interesting  in 
their  barbarous  endeavour  to  repeat  the  Western 
forms.  The  marvellous  bronze  gates  of  the 
cathedral  at  Gniezno  (German  Gnesen),  dating  from 
the  same  period,  are  undoubtedly  of  German 
workmanship. 


16 


CHAPTER    II 

Poland  owes  her  speedy  regeneration  after  the 
Tartar  debacle,  partially  at  least,  to  the  influx  of 
immigrants,  especially  those  of  German  origin,  seek- 
ing their  fortunes  in  a  depopulated  country.  There 
were  moments  when  the  vast  privileges  with  which 
the  settlers  had  been  endowed  since  1257  might  have 
brought  disaster  upon  Poland,  as  the  new-comers 
threatened  to  denationalize  the  country.  The  Polish 
element,  however,  eventually  proved  itself  to  possess 
enough  vital  force  to  assimilate  these  strangers,  and 
this  is  why,  to-day,  foreign-sounding  names  are  to 
be  met  with  even  among  Polish  patriots. 

The  Gothic  style  issued  from  the  Roman  as  far 
back  as  1160  in  France,  where  it  maintained  a 
specific  character.  With  the  colonists  it  drifted 
into  Poland  in  the  thirteenth  century  from  Germany 
in  the  form  it  had  acquired  in  that  country.  The 
different  structural  principles  of  this  style  involved 
the  reshaping  of  all  other  plastic  arts.  Frescoes 
were  no  longer  used  to  cover  the  great  stretches 
of  side-walls,  as  these  became  superseded  by  lofty 
pillars  interspaced  with  large  windows,  to  which  the 
decoration  of  the  building  migrated  and  filled  them 
with  stained  glass  ;    pictorial  art  proper  transferred 


THE    HISTORY    OF     POLISH     ART     243 

itself  to  the  easel,  to  tempera  and  to  canvas -covered 
panels.  From  the  illuminations  alone,  which 
extended  themselves  to  the  illustration  of  lay  works, 
it  is  evident  that  the  imaginative  powers  of  the 
contemporary  artists  must  have  increased  con- 
siderably. 

The  influence  of  the  famous  Tcheque-Praha 
school,  founded  in  1348,  made  itself  felt  in  Polish 
painting  in  the  first  half  of  the  fifteenth  century  ; 
later  came  the  influence  of  the  Cologne  school,  but 
the  1467  painting  of  the  triptych  of  the  Holy  Trinity 
in  the  chapel  of  the  Holy  Cross  in  Wawel  Cathedral 
shows  traces  of  the  Nuernberg  influence.  In  spite 
of  these  influences  the  majority  of  the  pictures  of 
the  Gothic  and  Renaissance  epochs  bear  the  national 
stamp,  not  only  in  the  type  of  faces  but  also  in  the 
landscape ;  this  is  instanced  by  the  painting  in 
which  the  Tatra  mountains  form  a  background  to 
the  Madonna  of  the  Church  of  St.  Nicholas  in 
Cracow,  and  permits  the  inference  that  Polish  art- 
guilds,  although  they  have  not  bequeathed  to  us 
the  names  of  the  painters — in  fact,  we  are  obliged 
to  seek  these  from  indirect  sources — were  numeric- 
ally and  spiritually  strong  enough  to  maintain  the 
national  character.  The  Wroclaw  guild,  according 
to  Alvin  Schultz,  between  1345  and  1523  produced 
150  masters.  To  the  artistic  development  of  the 
Cracow  and  Poznan  guilds,  apart  from  many  Church 
pictures,  witnesses  a  well -conceived  and  executed 
painting  of  an  artist's  studio,  included  in  the  "  Codex 
Picturatiis  Balthasaris  Bemii,  anno  1505,  Confine ns 


244  A   SKETCH    OE 

Privilegia  et  Plebiscita  Urbis  Cracouice.''  The  cus- 
tom of  these  corporations  was  to  send  their  best 
apprentices  for  two  years*  study  abroad',  whence  they, 
returned  laden  with  rich  spoil  of  technical  know- 
ledge. In  the  Lwow  school  alone  Eastern  currents 
mingled  with  those  of  the  West,  but  met  with  little 
encouragement  from  the  Court.  It  is  true  that  King 
Jagiello,  brought  up  in  the  traditions  of  the  East, 
commissioned  Russian  painters  about  1393  to  adorn 
the  chapel,  called  Jagiellon,  in  Wawel  Castle.  A 
very  fine  specimen  of  their  polychromy  was  rescued, 
in  a  good  state  of  preservation,  from  under^  a  layer 
of  plaster  in  1905.  Russian  painters,  too,  decorated 
the  mausoleum  of  Casimir  Jagiellon,  in  1471,  but  the 
remains  of  Eastern  art  are  scarce,  as  the  Polish 
school  was  guided  by  Western  tendencies. 

In  architecture  the  Gothic  style  bore  the  imprint 
of  the  national  individuality  ;  the  building  material, 
most  often  brick,  contributed  to  the  creation  of 
variety  in  the  original  style,  hence  Polish  Gothic 
is  called  synonymously  the  Vistula-Baltic  style  and 
Brick  Gothic.  Among  the  churches  that  withstood 
the  crushing  blows  of  the  great  historical  calamities 
are  the  Franciscan  and  St.  Mary's  in  Cracow,  the 
cathedrals  of  Gniezno  and  Wloclawek,  and  several 
others  simple  in  decoration  but  remarkable  for  the 
beauty  and  purity  of  their  silhouettes. 

Many  sculptures,  some  of  them'  prodigies  of  art, 
have  outlasted  this  age  and  are  still  to  be  found 
in  the  Gniezno  and  Cracow  churches.  They  consist 
chiefly  of  tombstones,  sarcophagi,    and  figures   of 


THE    HISTORY    OF    POLISH     ART     245 

faints  in  stone,  bronze,  or  wood  ;  these  last,  especi- 
ally, Poland  owes  to  her  own  masters,  among  others 
to  Wit  Stwosz  (1435-1533),  a  sculptor  and  engraver 
of  European  fame,  who  after  prolonged  studies  in 
Nuernberg  returned  to  live  and  work  in  the  land 
of  his  forefathers.  Besides  his  great  masterpieces 
— the  triptych  and  the  splendid  figure  of  Christ  in 
St.  Mary's  Church  in  Cracow— there  are  several 
minor  products  of  his  chisel  scattered  throughout 
this  town  and  the  German  and  Bohemian  churches. 
His  great  value  to  art  is  confirmed  by  the  eagerness 
with  which  the  Germans  have  endeavoured  to  confer 
their  nationality  upon  him.  They  have  shown  their 
appreciation,  not  only  of  Wit  Stwosz  but  also  of 
the  great  Polish  astronomer  Kopemik,  by  appro- 
priating them  both  in  the  same  way  as  a  certain  Ger- 
man savant,  by  means  of  scientific  anthropologicaJ 
apparatus,  has  appropriated  for  Germany  the  Italian 
creative  spirits— Giotto,  Dante,  Ghiberti,  Vinci, 
Raphael,  Titian,  Tasso,  and  Buonarotti,  discovering 
their  real  names  to  have  been— Jotte,  Aigler,  Wiebert, 
Wincke,  Sandt,  Wetzel,  Basse,  and  Bohnrodt.'  Recent 
close  investigations  have  established  that  Wit  Stwosz 
was  a  Pole  ;  even  R.  Muther  in  his  "  Geschichte  der 
Malerei  "  says  that  the  paintings  in  St.  Wolfgang's 
Church,  dating  from  the  dawti  of  German  art,  are 
to-day  considered  by  Franz  Heege  to  be;  the  work  of 
the  Polish  master  Wit  Stwosz. 2 

'  See  Woltmann's  "Die  Germaiien  und  die  Renaissance  in 
Italien,"  1905. 

2  Ghristliche  Kunstblaetter,  No.  11,  1915  :  "Arbeit  des 
Weit  Stoss  am  Altare  von  St.  Wolfgang." 


CHAPTER    III 

The  regeneration  of  painting  in  Italy  found  no  echo 
in  Poland.  Cracow,  teeming  with  the  Italian 
architects  and  sculptors  summoned  by  King  Sigis- 
mund  I,  still  awaited  for  a  long  time  the  coming  of 
Italian  painters.  The  Court  painter,  Hans  Duerer 
(born  1478),  brother  and  pupil  of  the  famous 
Albrecht  but  himself  of  secondary  talent,  did  not 
contribute  much  to  the  development  of  Polish  art.  Ai 
better  artist  than  he,  who  arrived  in  Poland  in  1514 
and  left  behind  him  a  great  number  of  works,  was 
Jan  Suess  of  Kulmbach.  To  the  art-guilds  remained 
faithful  only  the  lower  classes  and  the  poorer  clergy, 
who  by  the  imposition  of  their  naive  didactic  ten- 
dencies precipitated  the  downfall  of  pictorial  art. 
The  decline  of  painting  was  a  phenomenon  so  much 
the  more  remarkable  as  it  occurred  simultaneously 
with  the  impetuous  development  of  science  and 
literature. 

Renaissance  architecture  made  Wawel  its  first 
home  in  Poland.  The  Gothic  castle  was  destroyed 
by  fire  in  1499,  and  rebuilt  as  Renaissance 
in  the  first  quarter  of  the  sixteenth  century  ;  the 
purest  product  of  this  style,  the  northern  "  pearl  of 
the  Renaissance,"  is  the  chapel  of  King  Sigismund 

246 


THE    HISTORY    OF     POLISH     ART     247 

the  Old,  which,  like  other  structural  achievements 
of  the  epoch,  was  the  work  of  "  Itali,"  such  as 
Francesco  della  Lore,  Berrecci,  Nicolo  da  Castig- 
lione,  Giovanni  Cini,  Antonio  da  Fiesole,  and  other 
Italian  architects  and  sculptors.  The  royal  example 
inspired  many  of  the  magnates,  and  patrician 
residences  of  the  epoch  frequently  display  the 
decorative    motifs    of   the   Renaissance. 

The  majority  of  the  monuments  in  the  churches 
of  Cracow  and  Warsaw  belong  to  the  seventeenth 
century,  though  among  these  are  many,  indubitably 
of  Italian  workmanship,  dating  from  the  sixteenth 
century.  -% 


CHAETER    IV. 

The  art-guilds  descend  altogether  to  the  level  of 
trade  at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Painting 
becomes  the  occupation  of  a  few  independent  artists, 
some  of  them  indigenous,  and  some  foreigners  accli- 
matized in  Poland.  At  the  Court  of  King  Sigis- 
mund  August  (1548-72)  works  Coraglo,  an  engraver 
of  great  artistic  temperament.  At  Gdansk  (German 
Dantzig),  under  the  influence  of  Marcin  Kober,  por- 
trait painting  develops.  The  Polish  nation,  however, 
showed  a  greater  appreciation  of  art  only  after  the 
coming  of  Thomas  Dolabella,  the  pupil  of  the 
famous  Antonio  Vassillachi,  called  Aliense.  He  was 
invited  from  Venice  by  King  Sigismund  III,  and 
being  a  painter  of  great  facility  of  execution,  left 
numerous  pictures  and  a  host  of  imitators ;  he 
became  naturalized  in  Poland  as  a  citizen  of  Cracow, 
where  he  lived  fifty  years  and  where,  on  his  death' 
in  1650,  he  was  buried  in  the  Dominican  church. 
Among  his  pupils,  Wawrzyniec  Cieszynski  (died 
1650)  and  Marcin  Blechowski  (died  1761)  deserve 
mention,  and  among  his  imitators  Zacharyasz 
Zwonowski  and  Lukasz  Porebowicz.  Another  Court 
painter  of  Sigismund  III  was  J^kob  Troszel   (born 


THE    HISTORY    OF     POLISH     ART     249 

1538),  son  of  the  famous  Nuernburg  clock-maker; 
he,  too,  spent  all  his  life  in  Poland,  and  died  in 
Cracow  in  1624. 

The  influence  of  Rubens,  who  painted  the 
portraits  of  Sigismund  III  and  Wladyslaw  IV,  was 
extended  by  his  pupil,  Peter  Soutmans,  and  also 
by  the  Westermans'  popular  engravings  after  the 
master's  pictures.  This  influence  makes  itself  felt 
even  in  the  religious  paintings  of  Abbe  Franciszek 
Lexycki ;  the  great  Flemish  painter  also  inspired 
Bartlomiej  Strobel,  a  native  of  Wroclaw,  retained 
by  King  Wladyslaw  IV  about  1642.  The  Court 
painter  of  King  Jan  III  Sobieski  was  Jerzy  Eleuter, 
an  artist  of  great  breadth  of  talent,  who  for  many 
years  was  considered  a  foreigner  ;  he  was  a  Pole, 
however,  a  nobleman  who  had  better  reasons  for 
concealing  his  real  name,  Siemiginiowski,  than  the 
fear  of  "  staining  his  escutcheon  with  trade."  In 
this  time  the  prejudice  against  art  had  considerably 
weakened  and  did  not  restrain  the  passion  for 
painting  felt  by  Pawel  Grodzicki,  General  of  the 
Crown  Artillery,  any  more  than  that  of  the  really 
talented  and  technically  highly  developed  painter 
King   Stanislaw   Leszczynski. 

The  confirmation  by  King  August  III,  on  the 
5th  of  December,  1746,  of  an  Act  raising  painting 
to  the  dignity  of  free  art  and  conferring  University 
privileges  upon  the  artists  finally  released  Polish 
art  from  the  fetters  of  trade  regulations. 


CHAPTER    V 

The  present  powerful  and  independent  art  of 
Poland  came  into  being  only  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury ;  the  works  of  painters  like  Czechowicz  (1689- 
1775)  and  Smuglewicz  (1745-1807)  were  only  pale 
semblances  of  Italian  art  in  the  epoch  of  its 
decadence.  Chodowiecki,  of  Gdansk,  disheartened 
by  the  lack  of  artistic  stimulus  in  Poland,  removed 
to  Berlin,  where  he  painted  portraits  and  genre 
pictures,  and  made  excellent  engravings  free  from 
the  classical  bias  of  the  time. 

The  artistic  proclivities  of  King  Stanislaw  August 
Poniatowski  brought  to  the  country  a  host  of  foreign 
painters;  of  these  Bacciarelli  (1731-1818)  remained 
in  Poland  for  life,  while  Giovanni  Lampi  (the  elder) 
and  Giuseppe  Grassi,  fashionable  portrait  painters, 
as  well  as  Bernardo  Bellotto,  called  Canaletto,  the 
Frenchman  Norblin,  and  others  maae  a  lengthy  stay, 
in  this  land  of  hospitality.  The  pupil  of  the  last 
mentioned,  the  first  of  contemporary  Polish  painters 
worthy  of  the  name,  was  A.  Orlowski  (1777-1832), 
a  lover  of  horses,  and  a  draughtsman  of  fiery 
temperament  finding  pleasure  in  the  rendering  of 
scenes  full  of  life  and  movement  from  the  military 
past. 

360 


THE    HISTORY    OF     POLISH     ART     251 

Again  the  implacable  hand  of  Fate  struck  Polish 
art,  ruling  it  out  of  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century  in  lines  of  red  ;  French  and  even  German 
art  outdistanced  it ;  the  dilettanti,  brought  up  in 
the  traditions  of  the  time  of  the  last  King  of  Poland, 
bequeathed  nothing  noteworthy  to  posterity.  Land- 
scape painting,  especially,  was  a  stunted  growth. 
Zaleski  (1796-1877)  and  Gryglewski  (1833-76) 
painted  interiors  and  copied  the  city  streets  with  un- 
critical precision.  In  fact,  landscape  painting  in 
Poland  begins  only  with  Szermentowski,  who,  though 
very  modest  in  his  choice  of  motifs  as  well  as  in 
technique,  possessed  a  deep  and  true  feeling  for 
the  character  and  beauty  of  the  countiy.  One  of 
the  few  painters  of  real  talent  was  Piotr 
Michalowski,  a  pupil  of  the  Paris  academies  and  of 
Landseer  ;  he  depicted  military  scenes  and  horses, 
and  his  love  of  this  noble  animal  descended  to 
the  first  Polish  painter  who  attained  to  European 
reputation— to  Juljusz  Kossak  (1824-99).  In  the 
works  of  the  latter  painter,  horses  were  the  chief 
subject  through  which  his  love  of  romantic  gallantry 
found  expression  ;  his  landscapes,  beautiful  and  sun- 
flooded,  are  such  as  many  of  us  still  retain  among 
the  joyous  memories  of  youth. 

H.  Rodakowski,  belonging  to  the  same  genera- 
tion, was  a  portrait  painter  also  reaching  the 
European  standard  ;  but  Polish  painting  made  its 
great  debut  with  the  coming  of  Grottger  and 
Matejko. 

Artur  Grottger's  (1837-67)  inspiration  flowed  from 


252  A   SKETCH    OF. 

the  same  source  as  did  the  pain  of  the  great  Polish 
poets  of  the  romantic  epoch.  He  poured  forth  the 
(whole  depth  of  his  soul  in  the  series  of  marvellous 
cartoons,  "Polonia,"  "Lithuania,"  and  ''War."  These 
are  no  mere  illustrations  of  the  historical  drama  : 
they  are  rather  an  inspired  pean,  an  ideal  and  subjec- 
tive synthesis  in  which  he  gives,  not  so  much  the 
actual  historical  events  but  the  spirit  which  shone 
through  and  animated  them.  From  his  cartoons 
breathe  a  boundless  enthusiasm  for  heroic  deeds  and 
an  angelic  spirit  of  sacrifice.  Poland  treated  him  as 
all  civilized  countries  usually  treat  their  national 
geniuses :  she  was  indifferent  to  him  during  his 
life,  to  exalt  and  adore  him  after  his  death. 
In  the  meantime,  only  a  stipend  from  Francis 
Joseph  and  the  help  of  his  friend  Count  Pappenheim 
enabled  him  to  live  and  work  in  Vienna. 

Historical  painting  had  many  adherents  ;  it  was 
essayed  by  Lesser,  though  somewhat  ineptly,  by 
Simmler,  and  by  Loefiler.  W.  Gerson  was  more 
punctilious  and  accurate  than  these,  but  his  attach- 
ment to  the  recipes  of  Delaroche  rendered  his  work 
academically  chilly. 

No  parallel  can  be  drawn  between  this  group 
and  Jan  Matejko  (1838-93).  He  stands  alone, 
beyond  and  above  all  to  which  the  name  of  school, 
direction,  or  tendency  can  be  attached — above  the 
whole  art  of  Europe.  A  colossus  of  the  breed  of 
the  masters  of  the  Renaissance,  by  his  side  the 
greatest  painters  seem  dwarfed.  An  automath  of 
genius,  he  averted  his  face  from  the  pettiness  and 


THE    HISTORY    OF.    POLISH     ART     253 

drabness  of  our  contemporary  life  and  plunged  into 
the  only  real  world  for  him — the  world  of  the  past, 
which  he  resurrected,  or,  more  correctly,  created 
again.  One  does  not  stop  to  consider  his  technique 
— ^that  bruslhwork  with  which  some  clever  Euro- 
pean art  jugglers  captivate  the  hearts  of  the  critics 
— for  him  it  is  an  innate  medium  of  expression, 
and  is  as  amazingly  great  and  simple  as  his  genius. 
No  school  ever  had  the  shadow  of  an  influence 
upon  him  ;  he  worshipped  Nature  alone,  and  for 
him  beauty  resided  in  truth  and  forceful!  characteri- 
zation. In  his  paintings  the  personages  of  the  old 
stiff  engravings  and  indifferent  miniatures  became 
again  living  beings,  swayed  by  the  whole  gamut 
of  passion.  From  his  first  works—*'  Stanczyk," 
''  Kazanie  Skargi  "  ("  Skarga's  Sermon  " ),  and 
*'  Rejtan  "—emanates  a  profound  pessimism  like 
that  of  the  world's  greatest  tragedians,  Dante 
or  Michael  Angelo.  A  superhuman  force  breaks 
from  his  later  gigantic  canvases.  The  *'  Battle 
of  Grunwald "  is  a  mighty  struggle  of  Titans, 
an  awe-inspiring  melee  of  human  bodies,  em- 
broidered trappings,  horses,  armour,  banners,  all 
painted  with  an  indomitable  impetus,  though  with! 
extraordinary  realism.  The  wonderful  polychromy, 
in  St.  Mary's  Church  in  Cracow  is  another  of 
Matejko's  achievements,  remarkable  for  its  mar- 
vellously subtle  harmony  of  colour.  The  National 
Museums  of  Cracow  and  Warsaw  or  the  Vatican 
in  Rome,  where  his  pictures  are  to  be  seen,  should 
and  will  certainly  become  the  Meccas  of  all  artists. 


254  A   SKETCH    OF 

Contemporaneously  with  this  genius,  puny  of 
hody  but  gigantic  in  spirit,  Siemiradzki  (1843-1902) 
and  Brandt  (1841-1915)  followed  the  path  of  his- 
torical painting.  In  the  works  of  Henryk  Siemi- 
radzki, in  spite  of  the  mannerism  grafted  upon  him 
by  the  St.  Petersburg  Academy,  famous  for  its 
pseudo -classicism,  one  must  admire  the  purity  of 
colour,  especially  in  the  beautiful  sun -dappled 
southern  landscape  of  his  pictures,  drawn  prin- 
cipally from  the  past  of  Rome  and  Greece. 
Siemiradzki's  figures,  like  those  of  Alma  Tadema, 
to  whom  the  Polish  painter  was  spiritually  akin, 
have  no  great  psychological  depth  but  are 
exceedingly  beautiful  and  noble  in  line.  Jozef 
Brandt  did  not  choose  epoch-making  historical 
events  for  his  brush,  but,  concerned  chiefly  with 
the  decorative  side  of  his  compositions,  he 
represented  episodes  of  the  past  so  as  to  combine 
figures,  horses,  and  dwellings  in  tasteful  sil- 
houettes, broadly  painted  and  richly  coloured.  His 
*'  Forays,"  '*  Cossacks,"  and  "  Steppes  "  won  him 
recognition,  not  only  in  his  own  country  and  in 
Munich,  where  he  wintered,  but  all  over  the 
Continent,  gaining  him  many  awards  there. 

His  was  the  time  of  the  vigorous  expansion  of 
Polish  art,  young  and  earnest  in  its  striving,  and 
full  of  promise.  The  atmosphere  was  charged  with 
new  ideas,  which  revealed  themselves  in  the  works 
of  the  excellent  colourist  Witold  Pruszkowski 
(1846-96).  At  the  head  of  the  group  of  young 
painters    then    stood    W.    Gerson    (1831-1901),    re- 


THE    HISTORY    OF     POLISH     ART     255 

nowned  for  his  historical  pictures  and  his  masterly 
painting  of  the  nude,  but  not  yet  sufficiently 
appreciated  for  his  landscapes,  especially  those 
of  mountains,  which  are  in  reality  the  best  of 
his  productions.  To  the  group  of  which  he 
was  foremost  belonged  the  old  students  of  the  then 
lately  opened  Warsaw  School  of  Art,  H.  Pillati, 
Gierdziejewski,  the  clever  humorist  Kostrzewski, 
Szermentowski,  Bakalowicz,  and  others,  to  whose 
common  efforts  Warsaw  owes  the  founding  in  1859 
of  the  Society  of  Encouragement  of  the  Fine  Arts— 
the  first  permanent  art -exhibition  in  Poland. 

Munich  then  ceased  to  be  the  only  rendezvous  of 
Polish  artists,  to  whom  the  three  governing  Powers, 
jealous  of  Polish  culture,  refused  the  right  of 
instituting  art-academies  in  their  own  country. 
They  began  to  gravitate  towards  Paris,  the  centre 
of  ever -fresh  and  vigorous  art,  and  this  greatly 
aided  in  the  elevating  of  the  Polish  artistic  level 
to  that  of  other  Western  countries.  Intellectual 
Europe  was  then  passing  through  the  epoch  jof 
realism  ;  the  chief  representatives  of  this  tendency, 
in  painting  were  Millet,  Gourbet,  and  Meissonnier. 
In  Poland  appeared  Witkiewicz,  an  excellent  painter, 
a  polemical  writer  of  great  talent,  a  deep  and 
origmal  mind,  who  succeeded  in  cleansing  the 
Augean  stables  of  Polish  criticism.  From  art 
he  required  truth,  precision,  and  depth.  His 
demands,  however,  differed  in  some  respects  from 
the  postulata  of  French  realism,  which  took  no 
hold  on  a  nation  of  romantic  predisposition,  and 


256  A   SKETCH    OF 

had  but  two  prominent  representatives  in  Poland 
— Maksyiniljan  (1846-74)  and  Aleksander  (1849- 
1900)  Gierymski.  Both,  though  of  quite  different 
teimperament,  had  one  trait  in  common— a  love  of 
truth,  undeterred  by  the  struggle  with  technical 
difficulties,  which  they  found  pleasure  in  creating 
for  themselves  and  successfully  overcoming. 

The  greatest  artist  of  this  generation  was  Jozef 
Chelmonski  (1849-1914),  a  keen  observer,  who 
hearkened  to  the  earth's  most  secret  confessions, 
who  espied  her  in  her  most  serene  moments,  and 
rendered  all  his  profound  love  of  Nature  with 
absolute  simplicity  and  sincerity.  In  his  pictures 
one  fails  to  perceive  the  tremendous  extent  of  the 
technical  accomplishment ;  in  fact,  one  forgets  the 
paint ;  one  breathes  the  true  atmosphere  of  the 
glorious  mornings,  ardent  noons,  bewitching  nights. 
From  those  canvases,  through  which  flying  teams 
of  fiery  horses  gallop  at  full  speed,  there  comes  to 
the  onlooker  the  crisp  chill  of  autumn  or  the  frosty 
breath  of  vast  sweeps  of  snow ;  before  others  one's 
epidermis  seems  to  feel  the  contact  of  hot  gusts 
of  wind  rushing  over  the  Vistula  sands  on  scorching 
summer  days.  Rousseau,  Constable,  Dupre  painted 
landscape  to  perfection,  but  none  of  these  had 
either  Chelmonski's  poetry  or  his  mystic  love  of 
Nature. 

The  same  spirit  animated  the  painters  Wyczol- 
kowski  and  Falat.  The  value  of  their  paintings, 
however,  consists  less  in  the  philosophical  concep- 
tion  than    in   the  mastery   of  execution.     Wyczol- 


THE    HISTORY    OF     POLISH     ART     257 

kowski  is  a  virtuoso  of  colour  in  his  technically 
unsurpassed  oil-paintings  and  pastels.  Falat  is  a 
virtuoso  of  technique  in  water-colour,  from  which 
no  one,  except  perhaps  Besnard,  has  been  able  to 
extract  such  wealth  of  colour  and  such  force  t)f 
tone.  Alfred  Wierusz  Kowalski  (1849-1915)  does 
not  belong  to  this  group,  although  his  early 
paintings  give  him  a  right  to  the  title  of  Master. 

The  founding  of  illustrated  papers  about  1859 
fostered  illustrative  art,  and  brought  to  light  great 
talents  such  as  AndrioUi,  Stachiewicz,  and  later, 
the  most  gifted  among  Polish  black  and  white 
artists,  A.  Kamienski,  an  artist-thinker,  bitterly 
synthetic  in  his  cartoons,  excellent  in  portraiture, 
and  refined  in  etching.  With  the  illustrated  papers 
came  xylography,  up  to  the  eighties  of  the  last 
century  the  only  reproductive  art  at  the  disposal 
of  the  periodicals.  A  considerable  number  of  wood- 
engravers,  Schuebeler,  Styfi,  Zajkowski,  Gorazdow- 
ski,  Nicz,  and  others  were  led  by  Jozef  Holewinski 
(born  1848),  who  developed  his  art  to  the  acme  of 
perfection  and  of  whose  collaboration  many  great 
European  publishers  were  justly  proud. 

The  appearance  at  an  exhibition  in  1888  of  the 
works  of  Pankiewicz  and  Podkowinski  disconcerted 
both  the  public  and  the  critics.  These  paintings 
brought  for  the  first  time  to  Warsaw  a  gust  pf 
impressionism,  the  healthy  elements  of  which 
became  absorbed  by  Polish  artists,  although  none  of 
them,    not    even    the    two    pioneers    of    the    new 

doctrine,   followed   it  undiscerningly   in  it:^    primi- 

17 


258  A   SKETCH    OF 

live  form  and  in  its  crude  ultra -reformatory 
tendencies. 

The  wholesome  influence  of  the  contact  with 
other  countries  of  Europe  is  manifest  in  the  works 
of  great  painters  such  as  Lenc,  Horowitz,  Szyndler, 
Z.  Jasinski,  Rapacki,  Maslowski,  Zmurko,  Kedzierski, 
Siestrzencewicz,  Olga  Boznanska,  Augustynowicz, 
Zofja  Stankiewicz,  Debicki,  Ajdukiewicz,  W.  Kossak 
(son),  W.  Tetmajer,  and  in  some  portraits  by 
the  old   Viennese   master  K.    Pochwalski. 

A  current  which  gave  new  stamina  to  Polish  art 
and  literature  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  neo -romanticism,  greatly  differed  from  the 
romanticism  of  the  fifties,  insufficiently  independent 
and  not  even  entirely  free  from  classical  leanings. 
Neo -romanticism  availed  itself  of  all  the  great 
discoveries  of  realism  and  impressionism,  comple- 
mented by  the  close  study  of  ancient  European 
and  Japanese  art.  The  individualism  of  the  neo- 
romantics  became  more  marked,  their  intellect 
broader,  their  feelings   deeper. 

Among  the  greatest  of  these  is  a  seeker  after 
new  methods  of  expressing  the  whole  extent  of 
the  longings  and  strife  of  the  modern  soul,  Jacek 
Malczewski  (born  1855),  a  painter-poet^  the  creator 
of  the  cycles  ''The  Artist's  Golgotha,"  "The 
Wandering  Derwid,"  and  ''  The  Halting  Place,"  all 
remarkable  for  their  freedom  of  symbolic  composi- 
tion, for  their  psychological  subtlety,  realism  in 
painting,  and  admirable  exactness  of  drawing. 

Malczewski    accepted    the    professorship    of   the 


THE    HISTORY    OF     POLISH     ART     259 

Cracow  Academy,  foimerly  the  School  of  Art,  the 
directorship  of  which,  after  Matejko's  death,  had 
been  entrusted  to  J.  Falat.  There  the  best  of  PoUsh 
artists  were  Malczewski's  colleagues  —  Mehoffer, 
Axentowicz,  Pankiewicz,  Weiss,  Wyspianski ;  but 
the  leading  spirit  of  this  academy  was  Stanislawski, 
a  man  of  immense  artistic  culture,  who  knew  how 
to  charm  the  enormous  expanses  of  the  Ukrainian 
landscape,  with  all  its  play  of  changeful  light,  into 
small-sized  yet  broadly  painted  canvases. 

The  Warsaw  School  of  Art  waited  long  for  its 
liberation  from  the  tutelage  of  the  St.  Petersburg 
Ministry  of  Education,  which  set  itself  the  task 
of  curbing  Polish  intellectual  aspirations.  The 
appointment  of  two  talented  directors,  K.  Stab- 
rowski  and  K.  Krzyzanowski,  brought  about  the 
desired  change  by  modernizing  the  trend  of  the 
school.  Cultural  institutions  in  the  Kingdom  of 
Poland  were  never  subsidized  by  the  Government 
and  owed  their  existence  to  private  initiative,  to 
which  is  due  the  imposing  building  erected  for  the 
Warsaw  School  of  Art  in  1914.  Within  its  walls 
art  began  to  prosper  under  the  guidance  of  the 
eminent  portrait  painter  S.  Lenc,  with  the  co-opera- 
tion of  such  artistic  forces  as  Pienkowski,  Maslow- 
ski,  Kotarbinski,  Trojanowski,  Krzyzanowski,  and 
Ruszczyc.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  wealth 
of  feeling  displayed  in  the  works  of  the  last-named 
painter  strongly  stimulated  the  younger  generation. 
His  landscapes  are  more  than  simple  views  of  the 
countryside ;     without   any   assistance    of  symbols 


260  A   SKETCH    OF 

they  are  capable  of  inspiring  awe,  or  stirring 
feelings   of  tenderness    and  melancholy. 

The  great  value  of  modern  Polish  decorative  art  is 
apparent  in  the  mural  paintings  of  the  Szafraniecs* 
chapel  and  of  the  Treasury  in  Wawel  Cathedral. 
The  author  of  these  polychromies,  Jozef  Mehoffer, 
a  painter  unrivalled  in  decoration,  is  known  also 
for  his  portraits  and  fantastic  compositions.  When 
twenty-five  years  of  age  he  won  the  first  prize  in  an 
international  competition  for  a  design  for  the 
stained  glass  windows  for  Freiburg  Cathedral, 
which,  thanks  to  his  work,  became  a  place  of 
pilgrimage  for  European  artists  and  critics. 

The  stained  glass  windows  by  Mehoffer  and 
Wyspianski,  adorning  the  Franciscan  Church  in 
Cracow,  afford  an  excellent  opportunity  of  observing 
the  profound  difference  between  these  two  talents, 
equal  only  in  their  greatness.  There  is  no  realism 
in  the  works  of  Wyspianski  (1869-1908),  who 
captivates  by  the  subtlety  of  his  interpretation  of 
type  and  the  extraordinary  expressiveness  of  his 
line— nervous,  powerful,  and  original.  The  span  of 
Wyspianski's  life  Was  brief,  and  still  the  greater 
part  of  his  time  Was  absorbed  by  those  high  literary, 
achievements  which  gave  immortal  tragedies  to 
Polish  literature  ;  but  the  four  years  he  sacrificed 
to  pictorial  art  left  an  abundant  testimony  to  his 
many-sided  genius. 

Polish  sculptors  had  little  scope  for  the  develop- 
ment of  their  talent.  The  elder  generation,  3os- 
nowski,  Oleszczynski,  Brodzki,  remained  faithful  to 


THE    HISTORY    OF.    POLISH     ART     261 

the  classical  canons,  as  did  also  the  most  gifted  of  the 
succeeding  generations,  Pius  Welonski.  T.  Rygier, 
though  exceedingly  conscientious,  brought  to  art 
no  new  ideas ;  these  began  to  reveal  them- 
selves in  Polish  statuary  with  the  coming  of 
Szymanowski,  Wasilewski,  Blotnicki,  Professor 
Laszczka,  Otto,  Professor  Breyer,  Lewandowski ; 
but  the  decisive  break  with  the  old  traditions  in 
sculpture  was  due  to  Dunikowski,  some  of  whose 
works,  however,  show  traces  of  the  influence  of 
French  masters. 

It  is  now  the  turn  of  the  new  generation  .to 
;show  their  ardour  and  faith  in  the  great  mission 
of  Polish  art.  Their  name  is  legion,  and  among 
them  are  talents  such  as  Frycz,  Czajkowski, 
Bukowski  in  decorative  art,  Buyko,  Kamir,  Karp- 
inski,  Ziomek,  Kowalewski,  J.  Kossak  (grand- 
son), Fabjanski,  Straszkiewicz  in  painting,  Raszka, 
Konieczny,  Kucharzyk,  Jackowski,  Puszet,  Wilk, 
and  Wittig,  the  most  gifted,  in  sculpture. 

It  would  be  wrong  to  endeavour  to  classify  these 
modern  artists  in  schools.  It  is  true  that  some 
of  them,  in  different  stages  of  their  development, 
are  subject  to  the  influences  of  the  divers  con- 
flicting currents  flowing  through  European  art,  of 
which  they  discriminately  assimilate  only  the  best 
constituents,  winnowing  away  all  that  is  artificial, 
insincere,  and  hysterical.  Another  factor  which 
keeps  them  from  making  their  devotions  at  the 
small  Chapels  of  Art  is  their  idealism,  which 
excludes   the    commercial   spirit    from   the    ai't   of 


262     THE    HISTORY    OF.    POLISH    ART 

Poland,  a  spirit  which  has  so  often  been  the  undoing 
of  even  strong  minds  among  European  artists,  by, 
tempting  them  into  the  fashionable  mannerisms  that 
render  work  saleable.  Among  Polish  artists, 
competition,  free  from  commercial  motives,  takes 
the  shape  of  noble  emulation.  The  receiving 
juries,  whether  at  the  permanent  exhibitions  of  the 
Society  of  Encouragement  of  the  Fine  Arts  in 
Warsaw,  the  Societies  of  the  Friends  of  Art 
in  Cracow  and  Poznan,  or  even  of  private  and 
provincial  *'  salons,"  dispensed  from  the  necessity 
of  forming  a  ring  to  uphold^  either  the  followers 
of  their  own  philosophy  or  the  financial  interests 
of  their  group,  admit  all  works  bearing  the  stamp  of 
talent.  This  enables  the  public  to  follow  the 
manifestations  of  Polish  art  in  all  their  variety  at 
exhibitions,  where  the  venerable  classicism  of  aged 
masters  jostles  the  most  daring  attempts  of  young 
innovators,  without  detriment  to  either. 

The  freedom  enjoyed  by  Polish  artists,  unre- 
strained in  their  zeal  by  any  side -considerations, 
permits  the  casting  of  an  auspicious  horoscope  for 
the  future  of  Polish  art,  which  already  occupies 
a  conspicuous  place  among  the  attainments  that 
enrich   the    life   of  the   civilized   world. 


THE    NATIONAL 
MUSIC  of  POLAND 

ITS    CHARACTER    &     SOURCES 

BY 

MARGUERITE  WALAUX 

With  an  Introduction  by 

EMIL  MLYNARSKI 

Conductor  of  the  Scottish  Orchestra,  Formerly  Conductor  of  the 

Warsaw  Opera  and  the  Warsaw  Symphony  Orchestra, 

^  Director  of  the  Warsaw  Conservatoire,  etc. 


A  la  Pologne  independante 

foffre 

Vhommage  de  cette  etude 


MAKGUERITE   WALAUX. 

LONDBES, 

Janvier  1916. 


INTRODUCTION 

It  has  afforded  me  a  real  pleasure  to  be  allowed  to 
have  my  name  associated  with  Madame  Walaux's 
study  of  "  The  National  Music  of  PolandJ'  And 
this,  not  only,  I  may  say,  because  I  am  a  Polish 
musician  myself,  but  because  in  a  very  few  words 
Madame  Walauoc  has  so  admirably  summed  up  the 
history  and  characteristics  of  my  native  music.  Her 
brochure  is  very  informative.  Indeed,  I  am  not  aware 
of  any  eocisting  work  in  the  English  language  which 
deals  so  well  in  so  brief  a  space  with  this  subject  so 
near  to  my  heart.  Apart  from  this,  however,  apart 
altogether  from  the  personal  equation,  the  subject  of 
Polish  music  is  surely  one  of  which  the  world,  and 
especially  the  English  musical  world,  with  which  I 
have  had  the  honour  and  the  pleasure  of  being  for 
many  years  intimately  associated,  is  likely  to  hear  a 
great  deal  in  the  future.  My  own  hope  is  that  such 
Polish  music  as  I  have  been  able  to  introduce  into  my 
various  Slavonic  concert  programmes  in  London  will 
be  taken,  as  it  were,  merely  as  samples  of  what  Poland 
possesses. 

Believe  me,  in  England,  far  too  little  is  known  of 
the  wealth  of  Polish  music.  But  I  live,  nevertlieless, 
in  the  sure  and  certain  hope  that  a  day  will  dawn, 
after  the  war,  when  the  multitude  of  music-lover^s  in 


266  INTRODUCTION 

England  will  find  as  warm  a  place  in  their  hearts 
for  the  music  of  my  country ^  as  before  the  war  and 
since  has  been  found  for  that  of  other  Slavonic 
countries, 

I  feel  sure  that  the  more  one  hears  of  the  genuine 
Polish  music  the  more  one  comes  to  love  it  for  its 
emotionalism^  its  definite  character^  and  its  beauty^ 
for  that^  in  point  of  fact^  which  gives  the  breath 
of  life  to  the  music  which  appeals  directly  to  you 
English, 

It  is  my  own  hope  that  from  a  new  Poland^ 
which  is  inevitable  after  the  war,  the  national  musical 
eleinent  will  be  more  strongly  developed  in  the  younger 
school  of  composers^  and  that  its  expression  will 
become  crystallized, 

EMIL  MLYNARSKI, 


THE   NATIONAL   MUSIC   OF 
POLAND 

While  still  boys  and  girls  our  young  hearts  were 
stirred  with  admiration  for  a  people  so  valiant  as 
the  Polish  people  have  undoubtedly  been  at  every 
stage  of  their  history.  That  noble  national  character 
which  marks  the  movements  of  a  Sobieski  as  he 
sallies  forth  to  the  succour  of  Austria  sore  menaced 
by  the  invasion  of  the  Turk,  or  the  generous  spon- 
taneity of  a  Kosciuszko,  embarking  for  free  America 
to  range  himself  resolutely  on  the  side  of  the  weaker 
in  the  fight  for  the  independence  of  the  United 
States,  the  heroic  death  of  Prince  Joseph  Ponia- 
towski,  indelibly  stamp  on  every  young  and 
generous  spirit  an  impression  of  beautiful  and 
elevated    thought. 

In  later  years,  when  we  get  to  know  the  com- 
plete story  of  that  scandalous  political  intervention 
in  the  affairs  of  Poland  which  historians  dignify 
by  the  name  of  high  diplomacy,  our  admiration 
and  sympathy  only  grow  greater  than  ever.  This 
high  access  of  mind  in  which  we  rest  has  never 
been  better  expressed  than  by  George  Brandes : 
"We  love  Poland,"  he  says,  "as  we  love  freedom. 


268     THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OE    ROLAND 

Poland  is    a  symbol,   a   symbol   of  all   for   which 
the  best  of  the  human  race  have  either  loved  or 

^     fought."  I 

We  have  only  to  consider  the  history  of  the 
oppression  of  Poland,  says  the  same  Brandes,  to 
find  there  on  the  one  hand  "  all  that  is  most  hateful 
and  despicable,"  and  on  the  other  hand  "  all  that  is 
most  lovable  and  lustrous.  In  the  first  the  con- 
'trasts  of  human  life  are  found  in  bold  relief.  In 
the  second,   the  cosmos  is   concentrated   as   in   an 

y     essence." 

How  can  any  true-hearted  spirit  avoid  cherishing 
a  sincere  and  continual  interest  in  the  history  of 
such  a  country?— a  country  whose  chief  crime,  in 
the  eyes  of  the  States  who  combined  together  to 
divide  and  then  destroy  her,  was  this,  that  3he 
possessed  a  civilization  distinct  from  their  own,  a 
civilization  which  united  her  with  all  that  was  most 
progressive  in  Western  Europe. 

Brandes,  in  his  noteworthy  work  on  Poland, 
which  is  interesting  both  as  the  impressions  of  a 
traveller  and  also  as  the  result  of  close  and  intimate 
study  of  Polish  literary  and  artistic  history,  speaks 
of  the  Poles  as  a  people  dowered  with  enthusiasm 
which  yet  needed  to  be  corrected  by  practical  ex- 
perience, as  endowed  with  vivid  imagination,  quite 
uncommon  intelligence,  and  beautiful,  exalted  feel- 
ing, as  loving  all  intense  and  delicate,  sensuous  and 
intellectual  enjoyments,"  but  also,  above  all,  who 
worshipped  independence  to  the  point  of  insanity, 

^  "  Poland,"  p.  48. 


THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OF    POLAND      269 

freedom  to  the  extent  of  the  lib e rum  veto,  and  who 
even  now,  when  they  had  lost  their  independence 
and  freedom,  had  remained  faithful  to  their  old  love. 

The  German  Chancellor,  Bethmann-HoUweg,  on 
the  day  following  the  fall  of  Warsaw,  speaking  in 
the  Reichstag,  paid  a  high  tribute  to  this  spirit  of 
independence  which  the  Polish  nation  has  retained 
in  the  face  of  any  trial,  and  which  nothing  has  been 
able  to  humiliate.  And  it  is  this  national  charac- 
teristic which  manifests  itself  to  an  intense  degree 
in  the  works  of  writers  and  poets  of  this  oppressed 
nation. 

But  it  is  not  only  the  study  of  Polish  literature, 
above  all  that  of  the  nineteenth  century,  which  en- 
dows us  with  an  understanding  of  the  aspirations 
and  the  soul  of  this  people,  it  is  equally  by  the  reve- 
lation of  her  fine  arts  and  her  music  that  we  are 
enabled   to    grasp   and  comprehend   them. 

Music  is  our  subject  here,  the  national  music  of 
Poland,  in  which  is  revealed  in  a  striking  manner 
in  the  works  of  her  composers,  and  above  all  in 
those  of  Chopin,  Moniuszko,  or  Noskowski,  the  soul 
of  this  heroic  people  in  all  its  individuality,  agonies, 
joys,  hopes,  aspirations,  loves  and  hates,  and  in 
its  most  marked  peculiarities.  From  this  last  point 
of  view  the  two  songs,  Wibicki's  "  Jeszcze  Polska 
nie  zginela  "  (*'  Poland  not  yet  Lost  ")  and  Ujejski's 
"Z  dymem  Pozarow"  ("With  the  Smoke  of  the 
Fires")  are  characteristic.  These  songs  express 
the  despair  of  the  younger  race  at  seeing  the  hopes 
of  Poland  brought  to  naught,  and  reflects  the  lofty, 


270     THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OE    POLAND 

burning  earnestness,  the  love  of  country,  as  a 
religion. 

Wibicki's  song,  the  expression  of  the  bright  hopes 
of  the  race,  even  after  the  blow  of  the  third  parti- 
tion has  fallen,  is  an  extremely  careless,  merry  song, 
the  ballad  of  heroic  thoughtlessness,  joy  to  live,  to 
sing,  to  fight.  The  first  is  a  psalm,  the  second  a 
march  which  approaches  a  mazurka. 

It  ought  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  Polish  music 
melancholy  never  leads  to  despair.  There  is  always 
something  hopeful  in  the  most  intense  sadness.  We 
find  this  impression  again,  moreover,  in  the  music 
of  Chopin,  who  draws  it  into  the  rhythm  of  the 
popular  melodies  of  his  country,  idealized  by  his 
poetic  nature.  We  find  it,  above  all,  in  the  "  Prelude 
in  B  Minor,"  which  is  to  some  extent  the  realization 
of  it.  Kleczynski  explains  it  for  us  thus  :  "  The 
picture  which  is  formed  is  that  of  drops  of  rain 
falling  at  regular  intervals,  which  by  their  continual 
patter  bring  the  mind  to  a  state  of  sadness ;  a 
melody  full  of  tears  is  heard  through  the  rush  of 
the  rain  ;  in  passing  to  the  key  of  C  sharp  minor 
it  rises  from  the  depths  of  the  bass  to  a  prodigious 
crescendo,  indicative  of  the  terror  which  Nature 
in  its  deathly  aspect  excites  in  the  heart  of  man. 
Here,  again,  the  form  does  not  allow  the  ideas  to 
become  too  sombre  ;  notwithstanding  the  melan- 
choly which  seizes  you,  a  feeling  of  tranquil 
grandeur    revives   you."  » 

^  Kleczynski,  "  F.  Chopin,  De  I'interpretation  de  ses  oeuvres,** 
pp.  26  and  27. 


THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OF    POLAND      271 

The  soul  of  Poland,  the  inspiration  of  these 
melodies,  is  an  impulse  towards  hope  and  liberty  ; 
this  liberty  is  the  goal,  the  end  to  which  she  aspires. 
This  is  contested  with  her  through  the  centuries, 
but  she  carries  on  the  struggle  without  allowing 
herself  to  be  weakened. 

This  all-powerful  idea  is  found  again  and  again 
in  Polish  music,  in  its  rhythm,  its  inspiration,  and 
in  its  melancholy  charm.  This  melancholy,  in 
which  there  always  sounds  an  under-current  of 
hope,  is  rather  the  outcome  of  the  thoughtful  and 
sentimental  temperament  than  of  the  dejection  of 
despair  occasioned  by  the  misfortunes  of  the  father- 
land. Here  is  no  resigned,  quiescent  spirit,  but 
the  true  soul  of  the  heroic  Pole,  chivalrous,  care- 
less, and  light-hearted,  which  delivers  itself  of  sad- 
ness in  songs,  but  whose  joy  is  tinged  with  intense 
melancholy.  Here  is  the  unchained  spirit  of 
Poland,  which  no  Government  has  ever  been  able 
to  fetter,  and  which,  notwithstanding  the  centuries 
of  suffering,  has  always  kept  untouched  her  indi- 
viduality, originality,  and  romanticism,  of  which 
poetry  and  music  are  the  living  and  harmonious 
manifestations. 

The  Poles  are  gifted  with  an  essentially  musical 
temperament,  and  their  taste  in  music  is  recog- 
nized all  over  the  world.  It  is  not  true,  however, 
that  this  taste  and  aptitude  is  visible  only  in  the 
last  century. 

Polish  music  is  of  as  ancient  an  origin  as  her 
history ;   this   fact   will   be   seen   by  the   following 


272     THE    NATIONAL   MUSIC    OF    POLAND 

account  of  the  principal  stages  of  her  development 
through  the  centuries. 

According  to  Sowinski/  the  history  of  music  in 
Poland  may  be  divided  into  three  distinct  parts  : — 

1.  Early  music  dating  from  the  appearance 
of  music  in  the  country,  and  finishing  in  the 
reigns  of  the  Sigismunds. 

2.  Music  of  the  Golden  Age,  including  several 
phases,  and  attaining  its  highest  perfection 
during  the  sixteenth  century,  following  next  the 
decadence  of  literature.  In  this  general  ship- 
wreck only  a  few  works  of  religious  com- 
posers survive ;  these  even  are  forgotten. 
This   period   terminated   in   1764. 

,  3.  Modern  music  from  the  reign  of  Stanislas 

August  Poniatowski  to  our  own  times. 
In  Poland,  as  elsewhere,  the  art  of  music  is 
affected  by  many  outside  influences,  before  attain- 
ing originality  and  assuming  a  truly  national  char- 
acter. For  many  years,  following  the  example  of 
many  other  European  nations,  it  found  inspiration 
from  the  Italian  School.  The  grave  beauty  of  this 
music  and  its  sweetness  seemed  to  fit  it  at  this 
time  to  be  the  melodious  organ  of  Christianity. 
Bohemians  and  Poles,  the  first  Christians  among 
northern  nations,  went  to  Rome  to  study  there, 
and  feel  the  inspiration  of  the  artistic  beauties  of 
the  eternal  city.  There  it  was  that  St.  Adalbert 
studied  the  elements  of  the  Gregorian  Chant.  In 
995  he  composed  the  hymn  of  '*  Boga  Rodzica  " 

^  "  Polish  and  Slav  Musicians  "  (1857). 


THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OE    POLAND      273 

(the  Mother  of  God,  worshipped  by  the  Poles  and 
Slavs),  which  is  found  engraved  on  the  saint's  tomb. 
It  was  not  till  the  eleventh  century,  that  the  eccle- 
siastical  chant  became  known  in  Poland. 

Pope  John  .VIII  gave  permission  for  the  use  of 
the  national  language  in  the  services  of  the  Church  ; 
this  permission  gave  a  national  character  to  re- 
ligious music  in  Poland,  whereas  in  other  coun- 
tries sacred  music  progressed  no  farther  than  the 
Gregorian  Chant  or  the  Plain  Chant.  At  this  time 
there  are  found  in  Polish  music  charming  airs 
for  Christmas,  which,  together  with  certain  old 
canticles,   made   up   the  first   song -books. 

From  the  fourteenth  to  the  sixteenth  century  a 
number  of  composers  flourished  in  Poland  ;  I'Abbe 
.Witowski  composed  several  religious  chants  in  his 
native  tongue.  Jean  de  Kampa  Lodzia,  Bishop  of 
Posen,  is  identified  with  hymns  of  great  value. 
Later  Wenceslas  Brzozowski  (fifteenth  century), 
poet,  priest,  and  musician,  left  the  Canzionale,  sl 
collection  including  setting  for  several  voices.  The 
golden  age  of  the  Sigismunds  was  also  productive 
of  noble  compositions,  the  most  important  of 
which  was,  without  doubt,  the  Psalter  of  Nicholas 
Gomolka. 

For  a  long  time  in  Poland  only  sacred  music 
existed,  inspired  by  religion  and  the  Church.  At' 
this  time,  moreover,  all  the  arts  looked  to  religion 
for  their  inspiration,  as  to  a  never-failing  fount. 
The  history  of  architecture  can  be  learned  only, 
by  a  study,  of  the  churches  ;    painting  dealt  exclu- 

18 


274     THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OF    POLAND 

sively  with  subjects  drawn  from  the  life  of  Christ ; 
and  music  itself  was  seldom  of  anything  but  a 
sacred  character.  Dramatic  music  was  united  with 
the  religious  drama,  in  which  satiric  songs  occasion- 
ally made  their  appearance. 

There  was,  however,  some  military  music,  which 
consisted  solely  in  flourishes  of  trumpets  and  cym- 
bals, and  there  was  also  Court  music.  The  tem- 
perament of  the  early  Poles  led  them  to  love  music  ; 
they  had  a  preference  for  the  glad  and  joyous  rather 
than  the  sad  and  melancholy.  Hymns,  however, 
charmed  their  ears,  and  they  amused  themselves  by 
listening  to  them,  but  it  was  their  characteristic 
national  airs  that  held  the  greatest  attraction,  the 
melody,  accent,  and  rhythm  of  which  brought  out 
in  a  wonderful  way  the  feeling  inherent  in  the 
nation. 

It  would  be  diflicult  to  compile  a  history  of 
these  Folk  Songs.  Many  of  them  have  never  been 
written  down,  and  are  handed  on  by  tradition  and 
by  the  ancient  chronicles,  which  give  merely  the 
title  and  the  words.  Songs  exist  on  every  theme : 
historic,  bucolic,  erotic,  etc.  Others  accompany 
Polish  dances,  and  their  rhythm  is  still  a  source 
of  inspiration  to  modern  Polish  composers,  as  is 
the  case  with  the  Polonaise  and  the  Mazurek.  There 
are  numberless  folk  songs  in  existence  belonging 
to  every  period,  and  even  to  the  last  century ;, 
Francois  Karpinski  is  responsible  for  some  charm- 
ing examples,  the  words  and  music  of  which  are 
familiar  to  every  one. 


THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OF    POLAND      275 

The  Polonaise  is  one  of  the  most  characteristic 
manifestations  of  the  art  of  music  in  Poland.  The 
germ  of  it  may  be  recognized  in  the  motive  of  an 
old  Christmas  song,  and  in  the  air  of  "  Wzlobie 
lezy  "  the  rhythm  and  the  finale  of  this  old  dance  of 
striking  originality  is  found,  the  music  of  which 
resounded  at  the  pompous  feasts  of  the  old  Polish 
lords   and  at  the  Court  of  the  Kings. 

The  exact  date  of  the  invention  of  the  Polonaise 
is  not  known.  The  Court  must  have  been  its  birth- 
place. Karasowski  i  tells  us  that  "  tradition  assigns 
to  the  Polonaise  the  following  origin :  when  the 
dynasty  of  the  Jagellons  died  out,  Henry  of 
Anjou,  son  of  Catherine  de  Medicis,  was  in  1573 
elected  King  of  Poland.  The  following  year  he 
received  the  representatives  of  the  nation  in  solemn 
state  at  Cracow  Castle,  and  the  gentlemen  made  their 
wives  slowly  defile  before  the  King,  keeping  step  to 
an  accompaniment  of  music.  Every  time  a  foreign 
prince  was  elected  to  the  throne  this  ceremony  was 
repeated,  and  from  it  was  gradually  developed  the 
national  dance  of  the  Polonaise.  It  became  a 
political  dance.  It  is  really  a  march,  a  processional 
dance,  grave,  moderate,  flowing,  and  by  no  means 
stereotyped.  It  is  at  once  the  symbol  of  war  and 
love,  a  vivid  pageant  of  martial  splendour,  a  weaving, 
cadenced,  voluptuous  dance,  the  pursuit  of  shy, 
coquettish  woman  by  the  fierce  warrior.  Despite 
its  essentially  masculine  mould,  it  is  given  a  feminine 
title  ;  formerly  it  was  called  *'  Polonais."  Liszt  wrote 
'  *'  Life  of  Chopin." 


276     THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OE    ROLAND 

of  it :  "  In  this  form  the  noblest  traditional  feelings 
of  ancient  Poland  are  represented."  The  Polonaise 
is  the  true  and  purest  type  of  Polish  national  char- 
acter, as  in  the  course  of  centuries  it  was  developed 
partly  through  the  political  position  of  the  kingdom 
towards  east  and  west,  partly  through  an  indefin- 
able, peculiar  inborn  disposition  of  the  entire  race. 
In  the  development  of  the  Polonaise  everything 
co-operated  which  specifically  distinguished  the 
nation  from  others.  In  the  Poles  of  departed  times 
manly  resolution  was  united  with  glowing  devo- 
tion to  the  object  of  their  love.  Their  knightly 
heroism  was  sanctioned  by  high,  soaring  dignity, 
and  even  the  laws  of  gallantry  and  the  national 
costume  exerted  an  influence  over  the  turns  of  the 
dance.  The  Polonaises  are  the  keystone  in  the 
development  of  this  form.  They  belong  to  the  most 
beautiful  of  Chopin's  inspirations.  With  their 
energetic  rhythm  they  electrify,  to  the  point  of 
exerted  demonstration,  even  the  sleepiest  of  indif- 
ference. Chopin  was  born  too  late,  and  left  his 
native  hearth  too  early  to  be  initiated  into  the 
original  character  of  the  Polonaise  as  danced 
through  his  own  observation.  But  what  others 
imparted  to  him  with  regard  to  it  was  supplemented 
by  his  fancy  and  his  nationality. 

Mickiewicz,  the  national  poet  of  Poland  in  the 
nineteenth  century,  consecrated  some  beautiful 
verses  to  the  Polonaise,  in  his  celebrated  "  Pan 
Tadeusz,"    Book    12,   "  Let   us    love   one    another."* 

The  melody  of  the  Polonaise  is  sometimes  simple, 


THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OE    POLAND      277 

but  its  rhythm  is  somewhat  martial  and  of  a  war- 
like enchantment.  It  is  solemn  and  possesses  great 
fascination.  The  conclusion  suggests  the  stately 
manners  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Written  in  triple; 
time,  it  is  grave,  but  gaiety  is  not  debarred,  which 
rendered  it  popular  among  the  people,  whose 
favourite  dance  it  was  up  to  the  close  of  the  seven- 
teenth century. 

The  movement  of  the  Mazur  or  Mazurek  is 
accentuated  in  more  lively  fashion  than  that  of  the 
Polonaise.  It  is  also  written  in  triple  time,  but 
more  licence  is  allowed,  and  the  contretemps  is 
marked.  The  Mazurek  is  full  of  feeling,  and  is 
often  melancholy ;  it  is  truly  poetical,  and  is 
representative  of  the  national  character.  Emanating 
from  the  people,  it  was  adopted  by  all  classes  ;  it 
was  claimed  with  joy  among  the  rich,  and  charmed 
young   and   old   alike. 

The  first  Mazureks  date  from  the  players  on  the 
lute  in  the  fifteenth  century.  They  were  of  popular 
composition,  and  were  of  simple  construction  with 
two  repetitions,  with  a  prelude  or  *'  ritournelle," 
a  kind  of  improvization  of  the  village  fiddlers,  and 
the  words  were  in  praise  of  the  simple  life.  Later 
their  range  was  enlarged.  They  are  exceedingly 
numerous.  Some  treat  of  history,  others  of  the 
rustic  life,  dancing  or  love.  Poets  of  renown  com- 
posed words  for  them,  which  were  set  to  music 
by  celebrated  composers.  The  Mazurek  is  the  true 
national  song  of  Poland,  the  embodiment  of  the 
national   character.      Chopin   made   it  popular  in 


278     THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OF    POLAND 

Europe,  and  Polish  opera  drew  on  it  to  a  consider- 
able extent.  Chopin  penetrated  the  most  deeply 
into  the  national  sanctuary,  and  his  melancholy 
genius  made  more  than  one  tender  heart  weep  and 
vibrate.  Liszt  says  :  "  Coquetteries,  varieties,  fan- 
tasies, elegies,  vagues,  emotions,  passions,  conquests, 
struggles  upon  which  the  safety  or  favours  of  others 
depend,  all,  all  meet  in  this  dance."  He  gives  a 
wild,  whirling,  highly  coloured  narrative  of  the 
Mazurka  with  a  coda  of  extravagant  praise  on  the 
beauty  and  fascination  of  Polish  women. 

In  Poland  the  Mazurka  is  not  the  dance  which 
is  called  by  that  name,  but  a  long,  difficult, 
and  impassioned  national  dance,  in  which  the 
gentlemen  and  ladies,  though  they  dance  hand  in 
hand,  constantly  take  different  steps  in  the  same 
time. 

The  Krakowiak  (French  Cracovienne)  is  born  of 
the  people.  Its  movement  is  quick  and  bright,  and 
it  is  written  in  double  time.  Polish  peasants  dance 
it  in  national  costume,  which  adds  to  the  picturesque 
appearance  of  the  dance  ;  added  to  this  there  are 
often  satirical  couplets,  which  the  dancer  sings  to 
his  partner.  The  poems  of  Miaskowski  (1622) 
prove  that  the  Krakowiak  originated  in  the  seven- 
teenth century. 

The  Dumy  or  Dumki  (reveries)  are  of  earlier 
origin,  and  their  music  is  of  a  particular  kind : 
they  modulate  from  the  minor  key  to  the  relative 
major,  and  vice  versa.  This  minor  modulation 
gives    them    a    plaintive    and    heartrending    effect. 


THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OF    POLAND      279 

They  are  nearly  all  in  double  time,  and  very  slow, 
and  were  accompanied  formerly  by  the  guzla  or 
gousla,  an  ancient  Slav  instrument  which  has  been 
replaced  in  modern  times  by  the  bandura  or 
bandurka  and  the  Morbe.  The  Ukrainian  dumkis 
(wrongly  termed  Russian  songs)  are  sung  generally 
without  accompaniment.  Among  the  Zaporogues 
there  were  bandouristes,  who  sang  a  kind  of  dumki 
accompanied  on  the  bandura,  the  sad  and  yearn- 
ing melodies  of  which  filled  the  soul  with  emotion 
and  melancholy. 

Lithuania,  the  history  of  which  has  been  inti- 
mately connected  with  that  of  Poland,  has  supplied 
us  with  many  popular  songs ;  for  example,  the 
Dainos  (a  gay  air).  These  tunes  are  simple,  sweet, 
and  fresh,  and  are  sung  in  Lithuanian.  Some  of 
them  are  of  very  early  origin.  Modern  composers 
have  made  collections  of  them.  Rhesa  has  trans- 
lated a  book  of  them  into  German  with  music,  under 
the  title  "  Dainos,  or  Lithuanian  Folk  Songs,"  and 
Chopin   composed  one. 

The  early  kings  of  Poland  used  to  love  and 
patronize  music.  They  were  greeted  by  the  sound 
of  music  when  they  entered  one  of  the  towns  of 
their  kingdom,  or  when  they  visited  the  castle  of 
one  of  those  lords  whose  wealth  was  the  astonish- 
ment of  Europe.  They  surrounded  themselves  with 
hired  musicians  at  great  expense,  and  lute-players 
and  other  performers  of  all  kinds  formed  part  of 
their  suite  continually.  The  nobles,  too,  had  their 
orchestras,  and  the  lordly  dwellings  echoed  to  the 


280     THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OK    ROLAND 

sound  of  music,  which  accompanied  all  their  feasts 
and  festivals. 

King  Sigismund  I  and  his  son,  Sigismund  August, 
professed  a  veritable  cult  for  the  art  of  music. 
Under  their  reigns  it  attained  a  high  state  of  per- 
fection. It  was,  in  truth,  the  music  of  the  Great 
Century.  The  Court  was  the  show-ground  of 
numberless  talents.  Musicians  were  paid  fabulous 
sums.  In  the  Royal  choir  composed  of  cele- 
brated musicians,  among  whom  were  many  Italians, 
the  combined  effect  produced  was  indeed  wonder- 
ful. It  was  also  in  the  reign  of  Sigismbnd  I  that 
the  first  college  or  chapel  for  the  celebration  of  the 
Mass  to  music  was  instituted.  No  other  country  in 
Europe  possessed  such  an  institution,  which  received 
the  name  of  College  of  the  Roraristes,  and  was 
attached  to  the  cathedral  at  Cracow.  Its  founda- 
tion dates  from  1542.  The  original  of  the  Royal 
Charter  given  to  this  chapel,  and  its  original  music, 
can  be  found  among  the  archives  of  the  cathedral. 
It  was  productive  of  marvellous  results  in  the 
interpretation  of  sacred  music  at  this  time.  The 
sixteenth  century  was  fruitful,  moreover,  in  master- 
pieces, as  is  illustrated  by  the  works  of  Broscius 
Jacques  Lubelczyk,  Gorczyn,  Liban  de  Lignica, 
Spangenberg,  Sigismund  Lauxman,  Simon  Staro- 
wolski,  I'Abbe   Gorczycki,   and   many   others. 

Under  Sigismund  III  music  attained  to  its  highest 
degree  of  perfection  in  Poland.  His  chapels  sur- 
passed in  talent  and  magnificence  anything  pre- 
viously seen  and  heard.     Jean  Zamoyski,  Batory, 


THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OF    POLAND      281 

Wladislas  IV,  Jean  Sobieski,  proved  themselves 
ardent  patrons  of  music,  and  endeavoured  to  spread 
the  taste  for  it  among  the  people,  whose  efforts  they 
encouraged.  At  that  time  there  was,  perhaps,  no 
other  country  in  Europe  where  music  was  held  in 
such  high  honour.  Nearly  every  lord  and  every 
high  dignitary  had  his  own  theatre,  orchestra,  opera, 
and  even  ballet.  The  reign  of  the  Kings  of  Saxony 
marked  the  progress  in  particular  of  instrumental 
music.  August  II  was  generous  to  the  point  of 
folly  in  the  upkeep  of  his  chapel,  and  his  orchestra 
was  recognized  as  the  finest  in  Germany. 

After  centuries  of  brilliance,  music  in  Poland 
passed  through  several  phases.  It  followed  in  the 
wake  of  political  decadence,  and  its  progress  from 
that  time  was  arrested.  The  institutions  of  sacred 
music  were  no  more.  All  perished  ;  but  dramatic 
music  had.  new  birth  in  the  reign  of  Stanislas 
August   Poniatowski. 

At  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  dire  mis- 
fortunes overwhelmed  this  unfortunate  country,  and 
there  was  a  revival  of  religious  music.  New  can- 
ticles were  composed,  as  well  as  fine  music  for 
the  Mass.  The  Church  from  that  time  had  her 
modern  repertory.  At  Posen  were  published  a 
series  of  sacred  chants  to  be  sung  during  the  Mass. 
Eisner  set  them  to  music  later  on  the  words  of 
Brodzinski,  and  his  example  was  followed  by 
Felinski,  who  was  inspired  by  the  words  of  Wenzyk, 
and  Kurpinski  by  those  of  Minasowicz. 

Sacred   music   was   always   very   remarkable   in 


282     THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OF    ROLAND 

Poland,  and,  above  all,  at  Cracow,  which  is,  accord- 
ing to  Sowinski,  "  the  cradle  of  the  music  of  the 
Church." 

Stanislas  August  Poniatowski  had  an  enormous 
influence  on  the  development  of  the  music  of  his 
country.  He  saw  the  opening  of  the  modern  era, 
which  is  characterized  by  the  appearance  of  the 
National  Polish  Opera. 

This  King  adored  music  in  all  its  forms  ;  his 
choir,  composed  of  native  and  foreign  musicians, 
Vas  one  of  the  best  of  the  time.  His  example  was 
followed  by  the  great  lords,  several  of  whom  were 
recognized  as  distinguished  performers.  In  the 
castles  were  excellent  orchestras.  Musicians  were 
well  looked  after  there,  and  certain  great  lords 
became  notable  composers ;  for  example,  Prince 
Michel  Oginski  (1765-1833),  whose  works,  and, 
above  all,  his  charming  Polonaises,  had  distinctive 
national  characteristics  and  became  popular  in 
Europe.  At  this  time  of  rapid  progress  in  the  art 
of  music  and  its  general  perfection  in  Europe,  the 
Polish  opera  made  its  first  appearance  (1778). 
Italian  opera  had  been  in  existence  at  the  Court 
of  Warsaw  since  1633,  but  the  poetic  and  literary 
movement  of  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century 
created  the  Polish  opera,  of  interest  by  its  character 
and  its  direct  relation  with  the  youth  of  Chopin. 

The  first  Polish  operas  composed  by  Kaminski 
and  Stefani  followed  the  German  style  and  the 
fashion  of  the  French  comic  opera.  The  new  and 
original  element  was  found  in  the  employment  of 


THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OF    POLAND      283 

popular  themes.  Their  subjects  were  taken  from 
peasant  life — "  Krakowiaki  i  Gorale "  ("  Craco- 
vians  and  Mountaineers")  of  Stefani.  The  ideas 
of  these  two  composers  were  taken  up  again  at 
the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  by  J.  Eisner, 
the  professor  of  Chopin,  and  by  Ch.  Kurpinski, 
creators  of  the  first  historical  Polish  operas.  At 
this  time  the  national  opera  became  the  most  per- 
fect expression  of  the  musical  art  in  Poland,  and 
Eisner  was  vexed  and  surprised  that  his  good- 
natured  pupil,  Chopin,  never  became  the  composed 
of  operas,  and  that  he  confined  himself  to  musical 
forms   of  less  magnitude. 

Boguslawski  contributed  largely  to  the  advance- 
ment of  the  national  opera.  It  was  he  who  pro- 
duced the  six  operas  of  Kaminski,  which  enjoyed 
considerable  success.  He  translated  the  "  Axur " 
of  Salieri,  with  fine  results  (1793).  But  the  greatest 
work  of  this  time  was  the  "  Cracovians  and  Moun- 
taineers "  of  Stefani.  Its  success  was  immense. 
Eisner  composed  several  operas  which  met  with 
great  approval,  as  well  as  an  operetta  of  Kamienski 
and,  an  opera  of  Caietana,  the  master  of  the  chapel 
of  Stanislas  August. 

All  this  is  a  proof  that  music  was  held  in  great 
esteem  in  Poland,  and  that  it  had  been  cultivated 
there  from  an  early  date  ;  but  it  is  only  subse- 
quent to  Chopin  that  this  music  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  foreign  nations.  In  truth  Chopin  was  the 
first  Polish  musician  who  gained  for  Poland  a 
world-wide   fame   in  the  world  of  music.     There 


284     THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OF    POLAND 

are  two  different  reasons  for  this.  The  first  is 
that  Chopin  was  the  inventor  of  an  entirely  new 
pianoforte  life.  His  music  invoked  general  ad- 
miration, both  by  the  exquisite  form  and  by  the 
sublime  beauty  in  it.  Centuries  of  intense  and 
uninterrupted  work  are  usually  necessary  before 
a  nation  can  produce  a  genius  such  as  Chopin.  As 
we  have  seen  in  previous  pages  of  our  historical 
exposition  of  Polish  music,  this  work  was  accom- 
plished slowly  in  Poland,  and  the  great-hearted 
musician,  loved  and  admired  by  all,  was  worthy 
of  the  effort. 

The  second  reason  was  set  forth  by  Schumann 
and  Liszt.  "  How  can  we  understand,"  asks  Schu- 
mann in  his  letters,  "  why  Chopin  interests  us  so 
greatly,  attracts  us  more  than  other  composers  of 
our  day?  It  is  because  of  the  strong  and  distinc- 
tive nationality  that  animates  him :  the  nationality 
of  Poland." 

Liszt,  after  having  heard  Chopin's  "  Funeral 
March,"  declared,  "  A  Pole  alone  could  have  written 
that  funeral  march,  because  all  the  inborn  sublimity 
and  introspect  of  a  people  cries  out,  through  Chopin^ 
in  that  marvellous  inspiration,  which  seems  the 
mourning  cry  of  a  whole  nation  following  the  bier 
of  their  dearest  hopes." 

Count   Tarnowski  i    is   perfectly   right   when    he 

says    that,    whether    it   be   with    the    inexpressible 

melancholy     and    forlorn    wailings    of    a    funeral 

march,   or   the   reckless   abandon   of   a   tarantella, 

"  Chopin,  as  Revealed  by  Extracts  from  his  Diary,"  pp.  6-8. 


THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OF    POLAND      285 

it  is  only  Chopin  who  can  express  to  foreigners 
that  inspiration,  original,  melancholy,  homely,  and 
patriotic,  which  is  the  feature  of  Polish  poetry, 
because  his  music  is  enlivened  by  that  same  inspira- 
tion and  impressed  by  it.  It  is,  as  it  were,  a  trans- 
lation of  that  poetry.  Therefore  it  is  in  the  history 
of  Poland,  subsequent  to  the  partition,  that  his 
music  has  its  great  significance  and  merit.  It  con- 
tains in  itself  the  essence  and  expression  of  the 
spirit  which  created  Polish  poetry.  It  represents 
to  the  outside  world  the  leading  spirit  of  the  Polish 
nation  so  thoroughly  that  Chopin  has  acquired  glory 
for  himself  and  for  his  countrymen,  a  citizenship 
in  the  realm'  of  music. 

There  is  a  likeness  between  Chopin  and  his  con- 
temporary Polish  poets  of  the  Romantic  school ; 
there  is  similarity  of  feeling  and  inspiration  ;  there 
are  even  some  similarities  of  disposition.  And  if 
to  this  be  added  the  charm  of  a  nature  strangely 
noble  and  refined,  with  beautiful  and  exalted  feel- 
ing, with  a  rich,  fervid  imagination,  with  quite 
an  unusual  intelligence,  with  rare  tenderness  to 
suffering  in  others,  one  discovers  elements  that  go 
to  make  one  of  the  most  enchanting  and  interest- 
ing personalities  of  Roland. 

To  sensitiveness,  tenderness,  and  a  genuine  deli- 
cacy of  feeling  he  united  a  childlike  gaiety  and 
humour.  It  is  true  that  his  moments  of  humoui: 
and  forgetfulness  never  lasted  long,  as  in  some 
of  the  mazurkas,  where  the  sincere,  almost  rude, 
gaiety  ends   in  the   most  intense   despondency. 


V 


X 


286     THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OF    POLAND 

There  is  a  widespread,  but  erroneous,  opinion 
that  the  music  of  Chopin  lacks  manliness,  moral 
and  intellectual.  But,  as  Huneker  has  pointed  out, 
if  Chopin's  manners  were  a  trifle  feminine,  his 
brain  was  masculine,  electric,  and  his  soul  cour- 
ageous. His  Polonaises,  Ballads,  Scherzi,  and 
Etudes  need  a  mighty  grip — a  grip  mental  and 
physical. 

Chopin  was  born  in  1809,  near  Warsaw.  In 
infancy  he  could  not  hear  music  without  crying. 
In  1827  Chopin  left  his  regular  studies  at  the 
Warsaw  Lyceum,  and  devoted  his  time  to  music. 
"  He  was  much  in  the  country,"  says  James  Huneker 
in  his  biography  of  Chopin,  "  and  singing  of  the 
Polish  peasants,  thus  laying  the  corner-stone  of 
his  art  as  a  national  composer."  In  1828  he  went 
to  Berlin,  and  this  trip  gave  him'  a  foretaste  pf 
the  outer  world.  Stephen  Heller,  who  saw  Chopirt 
in  1830,  described  him  as  pale,  of  delicate  health, 
and  not  destined  for  a  long  life.  He  was  constantly 
admonished  by  his  relatives  to  keep  his  coat  closed. 
Chopin  went  to  Berlin  under  the  protection  of  his 
father's  friend.  Professor  Jarocki,  to  attend  a  great 
scientific  congress.  Count  Tarnowski  relates  that 
Chopin  left  Warsaw  with  a  light  heart.  On  the 
way  home  he  stopped  at  a  place  called  Zullichau, 
and  improvized  on  Polish  airs  so  charmingly  that 
the   departure   was   delayed. 

Tarnowski  declares  that  the  Polish  poet  Julius 
Slowacki  was  Chopin's  warmest  friend  and  a 
starting-point  of  inspiration  for  the  composer. 


THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OK    POLAND      287 

In  July  1829  Chopin  arrived  at  Vienna,  where 
his  improvization  on  the  Polish  tune  called 
"  Chmiel  "  and  a  theme  from  "  La  Dame  Blanche  " 
stirred  up  much  enthusiasm  at  the  Karntnerthor 
Theatre.  The  Press  was  favourable.  According  to 
Huneker  his  style  was  admired,  and  voted  original. 
A  remark  by  a  lady,  *'  It  is  a  pity  his  appear- 
ance is  so  insignificant,"  reached  the  composer's 
ear  and  caused  him  'an  evil  quarter  of  an  hour, 
for  he  was  morbidly  sensitive,  but  being,  like  most 
Polas,  secretive,  managed  to  hide  it.  Encouraged 
by  his  triumph,  Chopin  gave,  on  August  18th,  a 
second  concert  on  the  same  stage.  This  time  he 
played  the  Polish  ''  Krakowiak." 

By  September  12th,  after  a  brief  sojourn  in 
Breslau,  Chopin  was  again  safe  at  home  in  Warsaw. 
About  this  time  he  fell  in  love  with  Constantia 
Gladowska,  a  singer  and  pupil  of  the  Warsaw  Con- 
servatoire. According  to  Huneker, »  Chopin  shrank 
from  coarseness  of  all  sorts,  and  the  Fates  only 
know  what  he  must  have  suffered  at  times  from 
George  Sand  and  her  gallant  band  of  retainers. 
'*  To  this  impressionable  man,"  writes  Huneker, 
"  Parisian  badinage— not  to  call  it  anything  stronger 
—was  positively  antipathetical." 

On  March  17,  1830,  Chopin  gave  his  first  concert 
in  Warsaw.  In  November  1830,  before  the  out- 
break of  the  Polish  Revolution,  he  left  Warsaw  for 
Vienna. 

*'A  thousand  times,"  says  Huneker,  "he  thought 
»  "  Chopm.'' 


288     THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OF    ROLAND 

of  renouncing  his  artistic  ambitions  and  rushing 
to  Poland  to  fight  for  his  country.  He  did  not 
do  so,  and  this  indecision— it  was  not  cowardice- 
is  our  gain.  Chopin  put  his  patriotism,  his  wrath, 
and  his  heroism  into  his  Polonaises.  That  is  why 
we  have  them  now." 

At  Stutgart,  when  Chopin  heard  of  tlie  capture 
of  Warsaw  by  the  Russians  on  September  8,  1831, 
his  agitation  was  terrible.  "  Sometimes,"  writes  he 
in  his  diary,  "I  groan,  suffer,  and  despair  at  the 
piano  !  O  God,  move  the  earth  that  it  may  swallow 
the  humanity  of  this  century  !  May  the  most  cruel 
fortune  fall  upon  the  French,  that  they  did  not 
come  to  our  aid." 

He  did  not  go  to  Warsaw,  but  at  the  end  of 
September  started  for  France,  arriving  early  in 
October  1831.  "A  neurotic  man,"  says  Huneker, 
"  his  tissues  trembling,  his  sensibilities  aflame,  the 
offspring  of  a  nation  doomed  to  pain  and  partition, 
it  was  quite  natural  for  him  to  go  to  France — 
Poland  has  ever  been  her  historic  client — the 
France  that  overheated  all  Europe.  Chopin,  born 
after  two  revolutions,  the  true  child  of  insurrection, 
chose  Paris  for  his  second  home." 

Count  Tarnowski  considers  that  the  time  at 
Warsaw  was  the  free,  peaceful,  and  happy  period 
of  Chopin's  life;  the  other  (when  he  lived  abroad) 
was  marred  by  the  storms  and  sorrows  of  later 
years.  Warsaw  is  connected  with  the  thought  and 
love  of  his  country  ;  the  other  with  the  memory  of 
that  other  love  which  poured  so  much  bitterness 


THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OE    POLAND      289 

into  his  life-  All  this  preyed  upon  a  tragic 
nature,  that  state  bordering  on  despair  which  is 
perceptible  throughout  his  compositions.  Possibly 
such  a  nature  was  predestined  never  to  attain 
equanimity ;  yet  if  his  surroundings  had  been 
different,  if  he  had  remained  in  his  country  and  in 
the  ordinary  way  of  life,  in  course  of  time  his 
health  might  have  become  better  and  his  talent 
would  have  developed  with  more  virility.  Thrown 
suddenly  out  of  gear,  as  it  were,  he  became  more 
and  more  unbalanced,  and  his  talent  developed  in 
the  direction  of  effeminate  tenderness  and  senti- 
mentality. This  disposition  appears  soon  after  his 
departure  from  Warsaw. 

Soon  after  his  arrival  in  Paris,  Chopin  was 
known  throughout  Europe.  It  seems  that  the 
peculiarly  Polish  form  of  the  Mazurek  became  the 
natural  expression  of  the  one  feeling  which  was 
the  background  of  Chopin's  disposition,  as  it  was 
of  Poland's— namely,  sorrow.  This  sorrow  breaks 
forth  freely  in  all  his  compositions  ;  but  it  is  strange 
that  when  he  composes  under  the  influence  of  bitter- 
ness or  despair  he  pours  his  genius  into  the  most 
varied  forms,  excepting  only  that  of  the  mazurka. 

What  strikes  one  in  Chopin  is  the  refined  style 

of  the  romance,  the  morbid  charm  of  a  play  full 

of    caress    and    tenderness.     One    has    not   always 

understood,  said  Count  Tarnowski,  that  behind  the 

strangeness    of    his    rhythms    resided    the    deepest 

classic  culture. 

19 


290     THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OE    POLAND 

Like  poetry,  the  music  of  Chopin  is  the  flower 
of  romanticism,  not  only  because,  as  a  composer, 
he  belongs  to  the  school  of  romanticism,  but  much 
more  because  his  music  has  the  same  charm,  the 
same  character,  the  same  failings  as  Polish  romantic 
poetry.  It  has,  like  that  poetry,  the  highest  tender- 
ness of  sentiment ;  it  has  originality  and  a  great 
richness  of  forms  and  ideas  ;  it  has  also  much 
vivacity  and  colouring  of  imagination,  and  in  that 
imagination  there  is  something  veiled,  ethereal,  and 
undefined,  alike  through  sensitive  feelings  and 
patriotic  inspiration.  It  has  faults :  an  over- 
strained melancholy  and  an  interior  discord  that 
appear  in  thoughts  v^hich  are  sometimes  incom- 
prehensible and  in  a  strange  and  sometimes  eccen- 
tric execution.  The  Polish  emigration  gave  to  the 
country  the  most  beautiful  works  in  literature.  The 
same  may  be  said  of  the  music  of  Chopin  which, 
under  the  influence  of  the  same  feelings,  produced 
the  highest  inspirations  and  the  most  Polish  in 
spirit  and  form. 

To  give  a  competent  analysis  of  Chopin's  works 
would  require  a  volume  to  itself,  and  that  will 
not  be  our  purpose.  To  appreciate  their  impor- 
tance we  must  consider  the  circumstances  amid 
which  they  were  written.  The  period  to  which 
his  earliest  composition  belongs  was  one  of 
apparent  calm.  After  the  Battle  of  Waterloo, 
which  took  place  between  the  peaceful  settlements 
of  the  two  Congresses  of  Vienna,  the  nations  began 
to  breathe  freely  once  more.     In   Poland  national 


THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OF    POLAND      291 

pride  grew  stronger  and  stronger  and  impelled  the 
true  lovers  of  their  country  to  an  active  propaganda 
for  the  improvement  of  its  internal  affairs.  Men 
of  genius  whose  lives  were  devoted  to  the  search 
after  knowledge  threw  all  their  energies  into  the 
discoveries  of  new  truths  and  to  casting  fresh  light 
on  old  ones.  Everywhere  was  the  breath  of  a 
new  spiritual  life  full  of  soaring  aspiration  ;  and 
rising  from  the  exhaustion  of  the  Napoleonic  wars, 
the  nation  seriously  gave  itself  to  the  revival  of 
art  and  literature. 

A  passionate  battle  began  between  the  two  schools 
of  poetry  :  the  classic  and  the  romantic.  The  great 
Polish  poet  Mickiewicz,  the  author  of  "  Grazyna," 
*'Dziady,"  and  "Pan  Tadeusz,"  stood  at  the  head 
of  the  romantic  school,  and  by  his  genius  triumphed 
over  the  other. 

According  to  Brandos, ^  the  Polish  literature  of 
the  nineteenth  century  bears  a  peculiar  stamp,  apart 
from  the  peculiarities  issuing  from  the  national 
character,  in  that  it  developed  in  a  country  which 
had  recently  ceased  to  exist  as  an  independent  State. 
For  this  reason  the  literature,  and  especially  the  . 
poetry,  came  to  supply,  as  it  were,  the  place  of  a 
national  life  which  was  lost  at  the  partition  of 
the  State.  It  gained  thereby  in  spiritual  exaltation, 
but  necessarily  lost  in  variety  and  freedom. 

Polish  romanticism,  as  Brandes  masterly  de- 
scribes it,  is  intelligent  and  imaginative,  splendour- 
loving  and  visionary,  with  a  tendency  to  chivalrous, 

»  Page  192. 


292     THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OR    POLAND 

virtuous,  and  religious  aspirations.  It  was  akin 
to  the  French  in  its  fickleness  ;  it  differed  from 
the  French  in  the  nature  of  that  fickleness.  The 
Frenchman  is  capricious  when  his  native  rational- 
ism leads  him  to  shatter  his  historic  heritage,  the 
Pole  when  temperament  or  enthusiasm  carries  him 
away. 

Throughout  the  romantic  literature  of  Poland 
we  find  here  and  there  features  so  realistic  that 
the}'^  do  not  seem  to  belong  to  the  period.  vSome 
of  the  poets  carry  realism  so  far  that  they  even 
introduce  living  or  recently  deceased  persons  into 
their  poems.  But  that  which  is  peculiarly  Polish  is 
that,  hand  in  hand  with  the  hankering  after  reality 
and  futurity,  there  is  an  unconquerable  tendency 
to  abstraction,  allegory,  superstition.  "They  are,'' 
says  Brandes,  "  at  once  realists  and  spiritualists. 
Two  circumstances  united  to  make  their  poems 
abstract  and  allegorical :  first,  the  propensity  to 
mysticism  which  lay  in  the  inmost  recesses  of  their 
souls  and  which,  after  having  slumbered  for  a  while, 
was  easily  awakened  in  them  all  since  they  had 
been  educated  as  Catholics  from  the  first ;  in  the 
next  place,  the  political  oppression,  the  considera- 
tion of  their  censorship  which  compelled  them  to 
describe  their  thoughts  by  circumlocution  and  to 
etherealize  the  outlines  of  the  beings  whom  they 
painted.  In  reality,  Polish  poetry,  by  its  very 
obscure  and  prophetic  character,  has  had  a  greater 
bearing  on  the  future  of  the  nation  than  a  logical 
and  convincing  poetry  could  have  had.     It  inspired 


XHE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OF    POLAND      293 

perseverance,  self-reliance,  firm  faith  in  the  future, 
and  obstinate  optimism,  which  were  so  much  the 
more  remarkable  as  no  country  seemed  likely  to 
offer  a  more  fruitful  soil  for  pessimism." 

Slowacki,  Krasinski,  and  especially  Mickiewicz, 
the  most  celebrated  poets  of  modern  romanticism 
in  Poland,  whose  works  and  poetry  reflect  the  most 
peculiarly  national  characteristics,  impressed  an 
intense  influence  on  the  music  of  their  time,  and 
they  are,  it  is  said,  the  leaders  who  preceded  Chopin 
into  the  artistic  world.  The  music  of  Chopin,  in- 
spired almost  entirely  by  his  country,  its  rural  life, 
its  dances,  its  past  splendour,  its  sorrows  and 
desperate  fights,  seems  the  harmony  of  the  soul  of 
romantic  poetry.  Living  among  young  Poles,  who 
were  enthusiastic  about  folk-poetry,  regarding  it— 
not  without  reason—as  the  basis  of  all  poetry, 
Chopin  sought  out  national  melodies  for  himself, 
seeking  by  careful  artistic  presentation  to  secure 
for  them  a  lasting  place  in  musical  literature.  In 
this  he  succeeded  much  better  than  any  other 
composer  has  done.  No  one  was  so  well  able  to 
reproduce  the  peculiarly  melancholy  strain  which 
runs  through  all  the  Polish  melodies.  A  spon- 
taneity, at  once  noble  and  natural,  pervades 
Chopin's  music.  It  is  the  complement,  or  rather 
the  illustration,  of  the  national  poetry.  An  eminent 
Polish  historian  has  said  :  "  Chopin's  music  is  of 
supreme  importance  because  it  represents  the  nation 
more  gloriously  in  the  domain  of  the  love  of  ai^t 
than  that  of  any  other  composer.     It  gives  us  the 


291     THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OF.    POLAND 

honour  of  an  independent  position  such  as  we  had 
never  attained  before." 

Chopin's  earliest  works  are  undoubtedly  the 
result  of  the  musical  tendencies  of  the  age. 
Traditional  forms  opened  to  him  the  gates  of  the 
temple  where  the  greatest  masters  of  the  pianoforte 
sit  enthroned.  But  into  these  forms  he  infused  his 
own  creative  genius.  Chopin's  imagination  struck 
deeper  chords  than  previous  pianoforte  composers  ; 
he  inaugurated  a  new  era  and  cut  a  way  for  him- 
self, not  for  the  sake  of  surpassing  others,  but  by 
the  unconscious  impulse  of  his  own  originality. 
Most  of  his  works  are  written  for  the  piano,  the 
instrument  he  preferred  to  any  other.  He  shows 
also  some  preference  for  the  violoncello.  "  Its 
elegiac  tone  was  in  harmony  with  his  own  nature." 

Chopin  was  very  partial  to  the  dance  forms — 
mazurka,  polonaise,  waltz,  tarantelle,  cracovienne, 
and  bolero — which  he  was  the  first  truly  to  idealize, 
but  of  the  large  number  of  his  mazurkas  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  say  which  is  the  best.  Some  of  those 
mazurkas  are  perhaps  among  the  most  effective 
which,  in  spite  of  the  tripping  dance  measure, 
display  melancholy,  as  though  the  composer  had 
indulged  in  a  momentary  diversion  and  neurotic 
intoxication  to  return  the  more  sadly  to  his  original 
gloom. 

*'  The  plaintive  little  mazurka  of  two  lines,"  says 
Huneker,  "  the  Seventh  Prelude  is  a  mere  silhouette 
of  the  national  dance.  Yet  in  its  measure  is 
compressed    all    Polish    Mazovia." 


THE    NATIONAL    xMUSIC    OF    POLAND      295 

**  Do  you  know  Chopin's  sorrowful  mazurkas," 
asks  Ehlert,  "  those  pathetic  dances  in  which  the 
deepest,  the  most  heartfelt  sorrow  has  donned  red 
buskins,  to  weep  itself  to  death  amid  a  bacchanal 
tumult?  I  have  one  of  those  in  my  own  mind  now : 
anything  sadder  you  can  scarcely,  imagine  :— 

Ye  still  must  dance,  poor  feet  so  weary 

In  gay  shoes  drest, 
Though  'twere  for  ye  a  fate  less  sad  and  dreary 

'Neath  earth  to  rest. 

Poor  Chopin  !  Was  he  afflicted  by  the  sorrow  of 
his  people,  or  by  a  secret  woe,  a  fatality  of 
love?" 

Chopin's  polonaises  may  be  divided  into  two 
groups  :  the  one  those  with  marked  rhythm,  dis- 
playing the  martial  element ;  the  other,  the  dreamy, 
melancholy  feeling  peculiar  to  the  master.  The 
*'  Fantasie  Polonaise,"  in  A  flat  major,  holds  a 
position  distinct  from  both  these  groups.  It  is 
intended  to  represent  the  national  struggle,  and 
concludes,  therefore,  with  a  proud  hymn  of  victory. 
Chopin's  belief  in  the  ultimate  victory  of  the  Polish 
nation  after  its  many  bitter  trials,  a  feeling  so  well 
depicted  in  the  poetry  of  Mickiewicz,  Krasinski, 
and  Slowacki,  the  greatest  poets  of  that  period, 
speaks  out  clearly  in  this,  the  most  finished  of  his 
larger  pianoforte  works. 

Chopin's  waltzes,  musically  considered,  offer  less 
of  interest  and  novelty  than  his  other  compositions. 
What  they  lose  in  the  rhythln  of  the  dances  they 


296     THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OF    POLAND 

gain  in  innate  grace  and  outwart  brilliancy.  The 
most  interesting  are  those  which  are  pervaded  by 
that  peculiar,  dreamy,  melancholy  vein  which  is 
one  of  the  chief  charms  of  Chopin's  inspiration. 

It  has  been  said  of  the  Chopin  waltzes  that  they 
are  dances  of  the  soul  and  not  of  the  body.  Their 
animated  rhythms,  insouciant  airs,  and  brilliant, 
coquettish  atmosphere  represent  the  true  atmosphere 
of  the  ballroom.  They  are  exquisite  exemplars 
of  social  intimacy  and  aristocratic  abandon. 
Schumann  declares  that  the  dancers  of  these  valses 
should  at  least  be  countesses. 

The  four  ballads  are  amongst  the  finest  and  most 
original  of  his  works.  Chopin  said  to  Schumann 
that  he  had  been  inspired  to  the  creation  of  the 
ballads  by  some  poems  of  Mickiewicz.  There  is 
about  them  a  certain  narrative  character  which  is 
particularly  well  rendered. 

"  None  of  Chopin's  compositions,"  says  Niecks, 
"  surpasses  in  masterliness  of  form  and  beauty  and 
poetry  of  content  his  ballads."  Louis  Ehlert  says 
of  the  four  ballads :  "  Each  differs  entirely  from 
the  others,  and  they  have  but  one  thing  in  common 
• — their  romantic  working  and  the  nobility  of  their 
motives." 

In  the  nocturnes,  Chopin  not  only  introduced  the 
dramatic  element,  but  displayed  in  a  striking  manner 
a  marvellous  enrichment  of  harmony  of  the  re- 
sources of  pianoforte  composition.  The  F  Sharp 
Nocturne  is  the  most  popular.  Kleczynski  finds 
that  the    doppio   movement   is    extremely    striking. 


THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OF    POLAND      297 

and  the  entire  piece  is  saturated  with  young  life 
and  love  and  feeling  of  goodwill  to  men. 

Chopin  also  deserves  special  honour  for  having 
perfected  the  study.  Some  of  his  studies  serve 
purely  technical  purposes,  but  others  are  intellectu- 
ally interesting.  Heller  wrote  :  "  Chopin's  Seventh 
Study  engenders  the  sweetest  sadness,  the  most 
enviable  torments,  and  if,  in  playing  it,  one  feels 
oneself  insensibly  drawn  towards  mournful  and 
melancholy  ideas,  it  is  a  disposition  of  the  soul 
which  I  prefer  to  all  others.  Alas  !  How  I  love 
these  sombre  and  mysterious  dreams,  and  Chopin 
is  the  god  who  created  them." 

Niecks  does  not  think  Chopin  created  a  new  type 
in  the  preludes  :  "  They  are  too  unlike  one  another 
in  form  and  character."  The  Sixteenth  Prelude  is 
the  most  brilliant.  Full  of  imagination,  life,  caprice, 
and  stormy  dynamics,  it  is  the  darling  of  the 
virtuoso.  Its  pregnant  introduction  is  like  a  madly 
jutting  rock  from  which  the  eagle  spirit  of  the 
composer  rushes  upward.  The  Fourth  Prelude,  in 
E  minor,  is,  as  Niecks  says,  "  a  little  poem,  the 
exquisitely  sweet,  languid  pensiveness  of  which 
defies  description,"  The  Fifth,  in  D  minor,  is  Chopin 
at  his  happiest.  There  is  a  dewy  freshness,  a  joy 
in  life  that  puts  to  flight  much  of  the  morbid  tittle- 
tattle  about  Chopin's  sickly  soul.  The  Sixth  Prelude, 
in  B  minor,  is  doleful,  pessimistic.  '*  It  precipitates 
the  soul  into  frightful  depression"   (George  Sand). 

The  sixteen  Polish  songs  published  by  Fontana 
after  Chopin's  death  were  written  without  any  title. 


298     THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OF    POLAND 

If  Chopin  met  with  any  new  and  beautiful  poetry 
in  his  native  tongue,  he  would  set  it  to  music,  not 
for  publication,   but  for  his  own  pleasure. 

The  last  mazurka,  "  Senza  Fine,"  composed  a 
few  days  before  he  died,  is  sad,  very  sad,  like  the 
last  days  of  the  great  master.  He  showed  by  this 
swan  song,  and  by  his  yearning  after  the  hour  of 
his  happy  youth,  that  in  the  very  last  hour  of  his 
creative  inspiration  he  remained  faithful  to  his 
national  music  and  to  his  sorely  tried  fatherland. 

Chopin  introduced  the  mazurka  into  modern 
music.  Although  exemplified  in  popular  songs,  they 
are  his  sole  property,  because  the  master,  while 
keeping  the  rustic  and  popular  character  of  these 
national  songs,  has  changed  the  form,  enobled  the 
melody,  and  enriched  the  contents. 

In  addition  to  Frederic  Chopin,  Poland  during 
the  nineteenth  century  has  given  another  musical 
genius  to  the  world — Stanislas  Moniuszko  (1819-72). 

In  fact,  if  musical  genius  is  characterized  by 
loftiness  of  spirit  and  a  wonderful  subtlety  of  human 
feeling,  if  it  is  an  extraordinary  creative  force, 
united  to  astonishing  power  to  soar  towards  new 
regions  hitherto  unattainable,  Moniuszko  was  un- 
doubtedly a  genius. 

But  as  Mr.  Polinski,  a  Polish  musical  critic 
rightly  observes,^  there  are  composers  in  whom 
genius  is  allied  with  talent,  that  is  to  say  the  faculty 
of  adapting  rules  and  knoiwn  means  to  an  end, 
theory  to  practice.  Such  were  Mozart  and  Wagner. 
*  Mtizyka  Polska. 


THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OF    POLAND      299 

They  realized  the  two  essential  conditions  for  giving 
complete  expression  to  their  creative  power.  Apart 
from  these  types  of  great  musicians,  Polinski  admits 
two  others,  namely,  where  a  great  talent  exists  in 
conjunction  with  a  lesser  genius,  such  as  Meyerbeer, 
and  where  a  great  genius  lacks  talent.  Moniuszko, 
according  to  Polinski,  belongs  to  the  latter  category 
of  composers,  and  this  is  perhaps  the  reason  that 
he  is  little  known  outside  his  own  country.  In 
his  music  Moniuszko  paid  too  little  attention  to 
details,  unimportant  perhaps  in  themselves,  but 
necessary  to  bring  his  genius  into  proper  relief. 

Although  Moniuszko  was  not  the  originator  of 
the  opera  in  Poland,  it  is  he  who  first  created  the 
National  Polish  Opera.  The  inspiration  of  his 
music  is  found  in  the  atmosphere  of  national  life, 
and  is  placed   in   a   Polish  milieu. 

The  influence  of  contact  with  nature,  attachment 
to  poetry  and  national  melodies,  have  exercised  a 
profound  influence  on  his  soul,  and  consequently 
on  his  music.  All  this  is  reflected  later  in  the 
rhythm,  the  harmonies,  and  in  the  plasticity  of 
Moniuszko's  music.  All  this  explains  the  extra- 
ordinary enthusiasm  with  which  the  first  opera  was 
received  in  Poland,  when  it  appeared  in  1858 
at  Vilno.  It  was  the  peculiar  province  of  Moniuszko 
to  touch  and  vibrate  the  unseen  and  delicate  tissue 
of  which  the  soul  of  a  nation  is  composed,  which 
explains  the  unprecedented  success  which  his  opera 
"  Halka  "  gained  in  Poland,  in  spite  of  its  technical 
and  other  imperfections.     Polish  critics  agreed  that 


300     THE    NATIONAL    MUSIC    OF    POLAND 

the  dependence  of  his  genius  on  national  elements 
was  so  strong,  that  every  time  he  tried  to  give  a 
more  cosmopolitan  and  less  national  character  to 
his  music  it  was  useless.  His  music  lost  in  interest 
and  value. 

The  limits  of  this  study  would  have  to  be  ex- 
tended in  order  to  do  justice  to  all  the  Polish 
musicians,  composers  or  artists,  whose  names  belong 
to  the  history  of  modern  and  contemporary  music 
in  Poland.  The  names  of  Zelenski,  Noskowski, 
Katski,  Wieniawski,  Paderewski,  Mlynarski,  Szyma- 
nowski,  Rozycki,  Karlowicz,  Stojowski,  Statkowski, 
Opienski  and  others  come  quite  naturally  and  in- 
stantaneously to  the  minds  of  the  lovers  of  music. 

Paderewski,  like  Chopin,  possesses  extraordinary 
lightness  and  exquisite  delicacy  of  touch ;  he  is 
certainly  the  great  representative  of  Polish  music 
abroad.  His  originality  as  a  pianist  virtuoso  is 
beyond  compare. 

The  musical  genius  of  Poland  which  first  estab- 
lished itself  with  so  much  force  in  religious  music, 
which  produced  the  Polish  opera,  and  which  has 
given  to  the  world  Chopin  and  Moniuszko,  will 
not  be  lacking  in  many  brilliant  manifestations  in 
the  future.  May  external  conditions,  in  the  front 
rank  of  which  stands  peace  and  the  realization 
of  national  independence,  be  favourable  to  its 
development   in   the  years   to   be  ! 


INTELLECTUAL  POLAND 

A  LECTURE  DELIVERED  AT  CAMBRIDGE 
ON  MAY  19,  1916 

BY 

LEON  LITWINSKI 

With  a  Preface  by 
The  Rt.  Hon.  VISCOUNT   BRYCE.   O.M. 


PREFACE 

By  viscount  BRYCE,  O.M. 

The  fortunes  of  the  Polish  people  have  long  engaged 
the  sympathetic  interest  of  the  peoples  of  Britain  and 
France.  We  have  always  deplored  that  First  Partition 
of  Poland  which  loas  prompted  by  the  unscrupulous 
amhition  of  Freder'ick  II  of  Prussia.  We  grieve  over 
the  subsequent  calainities  of  a  gifted  and  gallant  race,^ 
many  of  ivhose  leaders  had  found  a  refuge  among  us. 
Within  the  last  fetv  years  our  interest  has  been 
rekindled  by  hope,  for  the  prospect  is  brighter  to-day 
than  it  has  been  for  three  generations,  and  we  now 
look  forward  both  to  her  recovering  a  united  life 
under  institutions  calculated  to  meet  her  long-chei'ished 
aspirations,  and  to  a  permanent  reconciliation  of  the 
Poles  with  other  great  branches  of  the  Slavonic  stock 
from  which  a  series  of  unfortunate  events  have 
divided  them  in  feeling.  It  is  natural  and  proper 
that  we  in  England  should  desire  to  be  better  in- 
formed regarding  the  history  of  the  Polish  People, 
and  especially  regarding  their  intellectual  achievements. 
We  know  how  much  they  have  accomplished  in  poetry 
and   music,    as    ivell    as    in    science    and    letters.     The 

303 


304  PREFACE 

names  of  Copernicus  and  Mickiewicz  and  Chopin  are 
those  most  familiar  to  us  out  of  a  long  and  brilliant 
list.  But  we  need  to  know  much  else,  and  to  have  a  far 
inore  complete  picture  presented  of  the  whole  history 
of  the  national  mind  and  of  its  varied  efforts  in  the 
field  of  creative  literature.  It  is  a  history  which  is  all 
the  more  interesting  because  it  enables  those  who  apply 
philosophical  methods  to  history  to  appreciate  the 
relative  iinportance  and  the  peculiar  character  of  the 
two  extei^nal  factors  which  have  borne  their  part  in 
the  development  of  thought  and  art  among  the  Slavonic 
peoples ;  I  mean  the  influence  of  the  Latin  and 
Teutonic  West  upon  the  Poles  and  the  Czechs,  and  the 
influence  upon  the  Russian  races  of  the  East  Moman  and 
Hellenic  culture  of  the  JEgean  countries.  We  friends  of 
Poland  are  glad,  therefore,  to  see  this  book  and  the  series 
of  which  it  forms  a  part,  brought  before  the  English 
publiCi  and  1  cannot  doubt  that  it  will  not  only  be 
welcomed  by  scholars,  but  will  also  find  a  large  circle  of 
readers  among  those  who  have  honoured  the  memory 
of  Polish  heroes  of  the  older  time,  from  John  Sobieski 
down  to  Kosciuszko,  and  who  have  adTuired  the  tenacity 
with  ivhich  the  nation  has  clung  to  its  ancient  traditions 
and  has  preserved  its  ancient  love  of  liberty. 


INTELLECTUAL    POLAND 


THE  CONDITIONS   OF    INTELLECTUAL  LIFE 
IN  POLAND 

No  one  would  readily  deny  that  the  intellectual 
life,i  like  all  other  forms  of  life,  must  be  con- 
sidered as  affected  by  the  particular  conditions  of 
its  existence  and  development.  Unfortunately, 
however,  it  is  not  very  easy  for  the  free  citizens 
of  these  islands  to  realize  the  conditions  whicli 
determine  the  expression  of  thought  in  fettered 
Poland.  Just  let  us  imagine  for  a  moment  three 
different  enemies  dividing  up  Great  Britain  amongst 
them,  and  let  us  further  suppose  that  the  centres 
of  her  intellectual  life,  such  as  Oxford,  Cambridge, 
London,  Edinburgh — to  which  in  Poland  corre- 
spond Cracow,2  Lemberg,3  and  Vilno  4— are  isolated 
to   such  an   extent  that   the   establishment   of   any 

^  The  term  "  intellectual "  is  used  here  chiefly  with  reference 
to  the  capacity  for  the  higher  forms  of  conceptual  thought. 
The  Intellect  is  often  opposed  to  other  fundamental  functions 
of  the  human  soul,  namely,  to  the  Will  and  the  Feeling. 

^  In  Polish  Krakow.     3  In  Polish  Lwow.     ^  In  Polish  Wilno. 

20  305 


306  INTELLECTUAL    POLAND 

free  intercourse  between  London  and  Oxford,  for 
example,  becomes  infinitely  more  difficult  than  to 
have  dealings  with  Indians  or  the  Senegalese.  Add 
to  these  suppositions  the  further  enormity,  that  two 
of  these  enemies,  not  satisfied  with  seeing  their 
victim  living  an  abnormal  existence  in  each  of  the 
three  parts  of  a  single  body,  make  a  crowning  effort 
to  destroy  the  intellectual  life  at  the  very  source  of 
its  being,  by  attacking  one  of  the  most  marvellous 
instruments  of  mental  production,  which  is  called 
national  individuality.  They  refuse  to  it  those 
fundamental  rights  which  are  conducive  to  the  de- 
velopment of  the  human  personality,  such  as  the 
right  to  personal  freedom,  the  right  of  freedom  of 
discussion  and  the  liberty  of  the  press,  the  right 
of  public  meeting,  etc.  All  methods  that  contribute 
to  this  malevolent  end  will  be  considered  fair  in 
the  estimation  of  these  hostile  Powers.  They  allow 
themselves  such  licence  in  the  prosecution  of  their, 
purposes  that  they  pillage  museums,  burn  and  carry 
off  libraries  and  national  collections,  and  even 
appropriate  scientific  instruments,  including  the 
fittings  of  an  astronomical  observatory.  Imagine, 
lastly,  that  the  intellectual  exponents  of  the  comity 
of  nations— i.e.  the  international  congresses,  which' 
are  generally  regarded  as  representative  of  human 
dignity  and  the  idea  of  progress,  and  as  opposed 
to  plimderers  and  the  forces  of  reaction—imagine 
that  these  very  intellectual  exponents,  so  far  from 
protesting  against  these  incredible  enormities,  prefer 
the  complicity  which  is  undoubtedly  associated  with 


INTELLECTUAL    POLAND  307 

a  refusal  to  allow  the  delegates  of  the  tortured 
country  to  take  a  part  in  their  debates  as  a  separate 
and  distinct  nation. 

Sad  to  say,  this  is  no  imaginary  portrait.  It 
is  only  too  true.  The  country  on  Which  Europe 
has  imposed  the  conditions  just  described  is 
Poland. 

Truly  there  is  need  here  of  the  pen  of  a  literary 
artist  rather  than  that  of  a  scholar,  to  paint  the 
terrible  and  affecting  picture  of  the  conditions  in 
which  Polish  thought  must  perforce  move,  not  to 
advance,  but  merely  to  keep  itself  alive — ^to  protect 
itself  against  the  sentence  of  systematic  and  merci- 
less extermination  passed  upon  it  by  the  enemies 
of  Poland  more  than  a  century  ago. 

This  is  why  any  one  wishing  to  give  foreigners 
some  idea  of  the  intellectual  life  of  Poland  must 
always  appear  first  of  all  in  the  character  of  an 
accuser,  and  draw  up  a  long  indictment,  too  long, 
certainly,  to  form  the  subject  of  this  publication. 
We  shall  therefore  confine  ourselves  to  quoting  here 
a  few  facts  in  illustration  of  our  statement. 


Intercourse  between  Poles  and  the  Repressions 
of  the  Partitioning  Powers.— By  a  law  of  1906, 
freedom  of  association  was  granted  to  the  Russian 
Empire,  including  the  Kingdom  of  Poland.  Three 
months  after  the  new  law  was  proclaimed  there 
was  founded  in  Warsaw  the  Society  Macierz 
("Mother  of  Schools").     An  aimouncement  of  its 


308  INTELLECTUAL    ROLAND, 

fall  will  be  found  in  the  following  telegram,  which 
appeared  in  The  Times  of  December  19,    1907  :— 

.  .  .  According  to  the  Buss,  the  *'  Macierz "  during  its  two 
years  of  existence  has  formed  781  committees,  enlisted  120,000 
members,  including  all  classes  of  the  population,  has  applied 
for  permission  for  1,247  schools,  of  which  651  have  been 
authorized,  has  educated  36,000  children,  and  has  this 
year  received  subscriptions  aggregating  1,000,000  roubles 
(£100,000).  An  assembly  of  delegates  of  the  local  com- 
mittees was  held  recently  in  Warsaw.  The  "Macierz"  was 
fined  3,000  roubles  (£300)  by  the  Governor-General  on  the 
complaint  of  the  German  Consul  that  three  Poles  from  Posen 
attended  the  meeting.  Four  days  later  the  "  Macierz "  was 
closed.  .  .  . 

It  ought  not  to  be  inferred  that  the  "  Macierz  "  was 
closed  because  the  German  Consul  complained. 
There  were  other  causes  as  well.  The  fact  shows 
only  that  intercourse  between  the  Poles  on  ques- 
tions of  their  public  life  and  interests  is  severely- 
repressed  by  mutual  understanding  of  the  par- 
titioning Governments. 


Removal  of  Polish  Libraries  by  Russia  and 
Prussia. — By  way  of  opening  the  subject  of  the 
libraries  of  the  capital  of  Russia,  M.  Eugene  Morel, 
the  author  of  the  famous  work  "  Bibliotheques," 
begins  thus :  "  Saint-Petersbourg  a  des  richesses 
uniques,  il  a  meme  toute  la  Pologne."  There  is  a 
great  truth  in  these  words,  for  if  Russia  does  not  in 
reality  possess  all  Polish  territories,  at  least  half 
the  books  collected  by  Pioles  during  the  eighteenth 
and  the  first  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  have 


INTELLECTUAL^    POLAND  309 

been  carried  away  to  Russia.  If  it  is  true  that 
collections  of  books  and  works  of  art  of  conquered 
nations  are  confiscated  and  removed,  we  must 
confess  at  the  same  time  that  this  mode  of 
procedure  has  never  been  more  generally  applied 
than  in  respect  to  Poland,  and  never  more  systemati- 
cally carried  out  than  in  the  conquest  of  Poland  by 
Russia.  It  was  begun  in  1772,  by  the  transportation 
to  St.  Petersburg  of  the  private  collection  of  books 
belonging  to  the  princely  house  of  RadziwilL 
But  it  was  the  removal  of  the,  Zaluski  Public  Library, 
opened  in  Warsaw  in  1747,  which  was  the  most 
terrible  loss  to  Poland.  This  library  was  founded 
by  Joseph  Andre  Zaluski,  Bishop  of  Kieff.  At  the 
time  of  opening  it  contained  nearly  200,000  volumes. 
By  1774  the  number  of  books  in  the  library  was 
brought  up  to  400,000  volumes.  This  library  was 
therefore  at  that  time  the  largest  in  Europe. » 

After  the  occupation  of  Warsaw  by  the  Russian 
General  Souvoroff,  the  Zaluski  Library,  which  was 
under  the  administration  of  the  Commission  of  Edu- 
cation (a  Polish  institution  which  was  the  first 
Board  of  Education  in  Europe),  was  removed  in 
1795  to  St.  Petersburg,  where  it  became  the  nucleus 
of  the  present  Imperial  Public  Library,  which  was 
then  founded.    According  to  Russian  authorities,  the 

'  According  to  A.  Franklin,  "  Guide  dans  les  Bibllotheques 
de  Paris  "  (1908),  amongst  the  libraries  of  Paris  the  "  Natio- 
nale"  contained  in  1722,  98,000  vols.  ;  in  1790,  153,000  vols. ; 
in  1795,  475,000  vols. ;  that  of  Ste.  Genevieve  in  1716,  45,000 
vols. ;  in  1791,  58,000  vols. 


310  INTELLECTUAL    POLAND 

collection  which  reached  St.  Petersburg  numbered 
only  262,000  volumes,  120,000  pamphlets,  11,000 
manuscripts,  and  24,000  engravings.  The  remainder 
must  have  been  lost  through  the  haste  with  which 
the  library  was  removed,  and  only  a  portion  could 
be  saved  by  some  bibliophiles  who  managed  to  bribe 
the  Cossacks  escorting  the  convoy,  i 

The  struggle  between  Russia  and  Poland  in  1831 
served  as  a  new  opportunity  for  the  transportation 
of  the  Polish  libraries  in  a  body  to  the  shores  of 
the  Neva.  Warsaw  alone  then  contributed  more 
than  170,000  volumes  to  the  Imperial  Public 
Library.  At  the  same  time  the  library  of  the 
Czartoryski  princes  at  Pullawy,  containing  40,000 
very  choice  books,  was  also  added  to  the  collections 
of  the  Imperial  Public  Library  at  St.  Petersburg. 
The  collections  of  the  Plock  Academy,  numbering 
nearly  42,000  volumes,  were  divided  between  St. 
Petersburg  and  Moscow.  In  addition,  the  Library. 
of  the  Cadet  Corps  at  Kalisz  and  that  of  the 
Princes  Sapieha  at  Doroczyn  followed  the  same 
road  northward. 

The  end  was  not  yet  reached.    In  1866,  after  the 

^  See  Olenine,  Director  of  the  St.  Petersburg  Imperial 
Library,  "Essay  on  the  New  Bibliographic  Order." 

The  Abbe  Georgel,  secretary  of  the  French  Embassy  in  Vienna, 
in  his  "  Memoires  pour  servir  a  I'histoire  des  evenements  de  la 
fin  du  18me  siecle,"  describes  the  manner  in  which  the  packing 
up  of  the  library  was  effected  "  by  a  horde  of  Cossacks." 
Among  other  incidents  he  tells  how  a  beautiful  book  of  en- 
gravings was  cut  in  half  by  the  Cossacks  because  it  was  too 
large  for  the  box. 


INTELLECTUAL    POLAND  311 

monasteries  were  finally  abolished  in  the  Kingdom 
of  Poland,  the  Government  entered  into  possession 
of  their  libraries,  dispatching  a  great  number  of 
their  books  to  St.   Petersburg. 

A  part  of  the  private  library  of  King  Stanislas 
Augustus  Poniatowski  found  safe  quarters  at 
Astrachan,  where  it  belongs  at  present  to  the  local 
Orthodox  Church  seminary. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  present  war  seventy 
chests  containing  valuable  prints  were  carried  away 
from  the  library  of  the  Warsaw  University  to 
Moscow,  thus  depriving  this  library  of  what 
escaped  from  danger  even  in  1831. 

The  Prussian  Government  proceeded  along  the 
saine  lines,  by  removing  to  Berlin  between  1835 
and  1839  the  libraries  of  the  monasteries  of  the 
Grand  Duchy  of  Posen. 


The  Fate  of  Prince  JablonowskVs  Scientific 
Endowment. — But  the  most  scandalous  example 
of  German  hostility  towards  the  development  of 
Polish  thought  may  be  found  in  the  case  of 
Prince  Joseph  A.  Jablonowski's  Scientific  En- 
dowment. ^  Prince  Joseph,  a  Polish  magnate, 
gave  in  1768  a  donation  in  cash  with  a 
view  to  encouraging  Polish  science  and  Polish 
scientists.  This  donation  was  accepted  by  the 
University  of  Leipzig.    In  1774  it  received  the  royal 

^  A.  Kraushar,  "  W  sprawie  f undacyi  naukowej  J.  A.  Jablo- 
nowflkiego,"  1911. 


312  INTELLECTUAL    POLAND 

sanction  of  Frederick  Augustus, i  with  special  guaran- 
tees that  the  will  of  the  donor  should  be  held  sacred. 
To-day  the  endowment  still  exists,  but  the  University 
of  Leipzig  has  entirely  changed  its  application.  It 
no  longer  serves  for  the  encouragement  of  Polish 
science.  Poles  are  deliberately  excluded  from  its 
management.  The  essays  must  be  presented  ex- 
clusively in  German.  Such  action  would  normally 
come  under  Sect.  87  of  the  Geiman  Code  of 
August  18,  1896.  Unfortunately,  there  is  no  chance 
that  the  law  Will  be  applied  in  this  case. 

International  Congress  of  Neurologists,  Alienists, 
and  Psychologists,  and  the  Poles.— A  fortnight  be- 
fore the  War  broke  out  the  well-known  Polish 
physician  Professor  Henryk  Halban  of  Lemberg 
sent  to  the  Press  the  following  decision  :— 

In  the  name  of  and  in  concert  with  my  colleagues  who 
formed  part  of  the  Select  Committee  of  the  International 
Congress  of  Neurologists,  Alienists,  and  Psychologists  at  Berne 
(Warsaw  :  represented  by  Messrs.  Flatau,  Radziwillowicz, 
Weryho  ;  Posen  :  Szuman  ;  Cracow  :  Heinrich,  Piltz,  Wach- 
holz,  Zanistowski  ;  Lemberg  :  Twardowski,  Sieradzki,  Halban), 
I  beg  to  inform  the  societies  and  institutions  interested  in  that 
Conference  that  we  have  unanimously  resolved  :  (1)  not  to 
take  part  in  the  Conference,  and  (2)  to  request  the  striking  out 
of  our  names  from  the  list  of  the  Organizing  Committee.  At 
the  same  time  we  beg  of  all  our  colleagues  who  intended  to 
take  part  in  the  Conference  not  to  come  to  Berne.     We  arrived 


^  "  Fundatio  perpetua  prsemiorum  viris  doctis  quotannis 
distribuendorum  "  (Konig.  Saechs.  Hauptstaatsarchiv  Original- 
nrkunde,  No.  10538). 


INTELLECTUAL    POLAND  313 

at  these  resolutions  in  consequence  of  the  fact  that  the  Central 
Committee  at  Berne,  which  at  the  beginning  proposed  to  us 
of  its  own  accord  a  separate  Polish  Committee,  later  on,  at  the 
request  put  forward  by  German  medical  societies,  without  any 
agreement  with  us,  set  aside  the  Polish  Committee  and  included 
its  members  in  the  particular  committees  of  the  countries 
which  have  partitioned  Poland.  Further  particulars  con- 
cerning our  correspondence  with  the  Central  Committee 
at  Berne  will  be  brought  to  public  notice  at  a  very  early 
date. 

Lemberg, 
12th  July,  1914. 

Are  we  to  conclude  from  instances  like  the  one 
just  cited  that  to  the  mind  of  twentieth -aentury 
members  of  international  congresses  the  prospect 
of  a  banquet  honoured  by  the  presence  of  a  high 
official  in  the  person  of  a  Minister  or  an  Ambassador 
is  more  valuable  than  the  humiliation  of  Poland? 


M.  Delcasse  and  M.  Henryk  Sienkiewlcz. — But 
Europe  refuses  to  recognize,  not  only  the  individu- 
ality of  the  science  of  Poland,  but  also  that  of  her 
literature.  Some  years  ago  M.  Delcasse,  Minister 
of  Foreign  Affairs  for  France,  wrote  a  letter  to 
Henryk  Sienkiewicz,  in  which  he  announced  that 
the  French  Government  had  decided  to  confer  a 
distinction  on  that  eminent  '*  Russian  author "  by 
naming  him  in  the  Legion  of  Honour.  It  was  only 
when  Henryk  Sienkiewicz  had  expressed  his  great 
astonishment  that  the  militant  French  Radical 
should  consider  him  a  "  Russian  "  author,  that  M. 
Delcasse  agreed  to  correct  this  error.    For  the  Poles 


314  INTELLECTUAL    POLAND 

it  was  almost  a  victory — a  good  reason  for  placing 
in  the  French  Radicals  their  hopes  of  a  brighter 
future  ! 


Byron,  John  Stuart  Mill,  and  the  Warsaw  Censor. 
—Finally,  as  another  illustration  of  the  conditions 
under  which  Polish  intellectual  life  has  to  struggle 
for  its  existence  it  may  be  mentioned  that  among 
the  books  prohibited  by  the  Warsaw  censor  were 
those  of  such  authors  as  Byron  and  John  Stuart 
Mill  ! 

After  all  these  examples  it  will  be  easier  to  under- 
stand the  meaning  of  the  following  words  written 
by  Boleslawicki  :— 

The  opposition  between  inward  feelings  and  outward  con- 
ditions, between  the  burning  faith  of  the  heart  and  the 
crushing  tyranny  of  the  commonplace  day,  has  reached  with 
us  a  state  of  tragic  tension,  upsetting  the  balance  of  delicate 
natures. 

Why  should  the  spirit  of  politics  and  diplomacy  get  the 
upper  hand  of  the  spirit  of  justice  ?  Why  should  the  noble 
inspirations  and  persevering  efforts  of  good  and  honest  men 
be  wasted  in  the  struggle  with  baseness  ?  The  Polish  nation 
has  been  deprived  of  the  conditions  indispensable  for  the 
expression  of  its  intuitions,  capabilities,  and  powers.^ 

A  Polish  publicist,  speaking  recently  of  the  un- 
usual conditions  under  which  Polish  national  life 
has  to  develop,  said  :— 

We  have  been  born,  we  are  living  and  acting,  so  to  speak, 
in  the  crater   of   a  volcano  which  ever  threatens  us  with  an 


Boleslawicki,  "Kwestja  Polska"  (1899). 


INTELLECTUAL    POLAND  315 

irruption,  and  which  now  and  then  throws  out  streams  of 
fire  and  molten  lava.  We  have  never  enjoyed,  like  other 
countries,  the  happiness  of  work  conducted  under  the  pro- 
tection of  a  lasting  peace.  We  are  accustomed  to  see  around 
us  graves  and  ruins.  Unlike  many  other  countries,  we  erect 
our  institutions  and  perform  our  tasks  with  the  conviction 
that  they  will  sooner  or  later  be  swept  away  by  our  enemies, 
and  that  we  shall  be  obliged  to  rebuild  them  or  to  perform 
them  over  and  over  again. 

This  work  may  be  compared  with  that  of  an 
ant  persistently  repairing  an  ant-hill  whilst  her  cruel 
and  unscrupulous  pillagers  are  destroying  all  the 
results  of  her  toil. 

The  Polish  citizen  needs  a  great  deal  of  adapta- 
bility to  keep  his  footing  in  the  forefront  of  civili- 
zation while  his  enemies  are  continually  trying  to 
take  away  the  solid  foundation  on  which  he  rests, 
and  which  he  needs  in  order  to  make  his  work 
secure. 


II 


THE    VITALITY    OF    POLISH    INTELLECTUAL 
PROPENSITIES 

Taking  into  account  the  extraordinary  conditions 
dealt  with  above,  one  may  well  ask  if  it  is  to  be 
expected  that  any  room  can  be  found  in  Poland 
for  the  development  of  intellectual  life  generally. 
In  this  Poland,  where  intellect  is  in  itself  an  object 
of  suspicion — ^as  is  acknowledged  by  a  French 
writer— where  societies  Whose  aims  are  as  far  as 
possible  removed  from  the  realm  of  politics  have 
yet  the  utmost  difficulty  in  obtaining  permission 
to  exist,  or  are  dissolved,  as  was,  some  years  ago, 
the  Society  of  medical  tnen  at  Warsaw ;  where  the 
best  energies  of  the  nation  are  squandered  in  an 
unequal  struggle  with  restraint  and  force  ;  where 
the  most  distinguished  intellects  often  perish  on  the 
scaffold,  in  damp  prisons,  or  in  limitless  Siberia  ; 
iwhere  affirmation  of  national  individuality  is  the 
object  of  brutal  persecution  ;  Where  everything  has 
to  develop  without  any  encouragement  from  the 
State  ;  where,  in  short,  all  must  depend  on  the  initi- 
ative of  individuals  and  on  personal  sacrifices ; 
where  the  very  foundations  of  national  existence 
are  in  danger — under  conditions  such   as  these  it 

316 


INTELLECTUAL    POLAND  317 

would  be,  surely,  a  great  thing  to  show  even  that 
the  creative  genius  of  the  Polish  nation  is  not  atro- 
phied, and  that  Poland  has  succeeded  in  preserving 
her  spiritual  integrity,  her  native  language,  her 
artistic  and  literary  taste,  in  short,  her  '*  spiritual 
faculties,"  in  potential  form— or,  if  you  will,  the  in- 
ternal conditions  conducive  to  intellectual  literary 
and  artistic  activity.  If  it  can  be  shown  that  this  is 
the  case,  the  Poles  will  already  have  given  to  the 
civilized  world  proof  of  the  extraordinary  vitality 
of  their  national  spirit. 

Now,  this  proof  the  Poles  have  given  in  the 
past,  and  are  constantly  giving,  arousing  in  their 
enemies  an  irreconcilable  fury.  History  shows 
clearly  that  every  time  exterior  conditions  hav€ 
been  favourable  to  the  expression  of  these  '*  potential 
faculties "  they  have  never  failed  to  manifest 
themselves.  It  has  been  so  in  Poland  under 
all  the  three  regimes,  Prussian,  Russian,  and 
Austrian. 


Intellectual  Life  in  German  Poland  about  1845 
and  after  1870.— After  the  year  1840,  Posen,  as 
Professor  Struve  has  said,  put  herself  at  the  head 
of  the  Polish  intellectual  movement,  thanks  to  the 
greater  liberty  she  enjoyed  in  comparison  with  the 
other  two  parts  of  divided  Poland.  The  result  was 
that  many  Polish  scholars  from  Russian  Poland 
established  themselves  there,  either  temporarily  or 
permanently. 


318  INTELLECTUAL    POLAND 

About  this  period  (1843-5)  Posen  became  in 
some  measure  the  intellectual  capital  of  the  whole 
of  Poland.  There  were  to  be  found  there  Kamienski, 
Jarochowski,  Kosinski,  Mielzynski,  Bentowski, 
Libelt,  Moraczewski,  Gieszkowski,  Trentowski, 
Kremer,   Dembowski,  and  many  others. 

Later  on  the  Prussian  policy  with  regard  to 
Poland  underwent  a  change,  and  was  directed 
towards  a  merciless  and  brutal  persecution  of  the 
Polish  element,  so  that  in  1905  the  same  Professor 
Struve  stated,  at  the  International  Philosophical 
Congress,  held  at  Geneva,  that  the  conditions  im- 
posed on  Polish  scientific  societies  and  institutions 
in  Posen  were  so  severe  that  it  was  not  at  all 
astonishing  if  there  was  then  talk  of  a  real  '*  emigra- 
tion "  of  Polish  scholars  from  Posen  to  Cracow  and 
Lemberg. 

A  similar  statement  might  be  made  of  that  part 
of  Poland  which  had  fallen  under  the  dominion  of 
Russia. 


Reformed  Yilno  University,  1781-1831.— At  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  Polish 
provinces  under  Russian  rule  had  two  chief  centres 
of  intellectual  culture,  Warsaw  and  Vilno.i  So 
far  as  the  second  of  these  is  concerned,  the  intel- 
lectual movement  there  gravitated  round  the  Vilno 
University,  founded  in  1579  by  Stefan  Batory,  King 
of  Poland.     Although  in  its  far  distant  past  Vilno 

'  To  which  might  also  be  added  Pulawy. 


INTELLECTUAL    POLAND  319 

University  could  pride  itself  upon  names  like  Skarga, 
Warszewicki  or  Sarbiewski,  whose  muse  Grotius 
justly  compared  with  that  of  Horace,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  its  rapid  progress  dates  chiefly  from 
the  reforms  of  1781  and  1803. 

Alexander  I,  Emperor  of  Russia,  proclaimed  in 
a  statute  dated  April,  1803:— 

We  secure  for  ever  the  future  of  the  ancient  University 
of  Vilno,  founded  in  1578  and  reorganized  in  1781  according 
to  the  scientific  standards  of  the  most  advanced  countries 
of  Europe. 

Twenty-nme  years  after,  i.e.  in  1831,  this  re- 
formed shrine  of  Polish  intellectual  life,  raised  by 
men  with  brilliant  intellectual  powers  and  excep- 
tional capacity  for  organization,  like  Czartoryski, 
Czacki,  Sniadecki,  and  others,  was  suppressed. 
Short  as  was  the  existence  of  the  new  Vilno 
University,  yet  its  achievements  were  magnificent. 
It  is  acknowledged  that  in  the  last  decades  of  its 
existence  the  torch  of  this  University  burned  with 
a  flame  so  living  and  resplendent  that  it  lit  up, 
not  only  Lithuania  but  also  the  whole  Kingdom  of 
Poland.  In  the  history  of  the  intellectual  life  of 
Poland  it  will  be  the  eternal  glory  of  this  University 
that  from  its  midst  came  men  like  Mickiewicz, 
Slowacki,  Kraszewski,  Chodzko,  Korsak,  Odyniee, 
and  others. 

Warsaw''  Szkola  Glowna''  (1862-9).— The  history 
of  the  seven  years  of  existence  (1862-9)  of  the 
Warsaw  "  Szkola  Glowna  "    (Chief  School)  affords 


320  INTELLECTUAL    POLAND 

another  striking  piece  of  evidence  of  the  reality  of 
our  contention  that  the  inward  propensities  towards 
the  intellectual  life,  as  well  as  literary  and  artistic 
interest,  have  never  died  in  the  Polish  soul.  They 
have  only  been  held  back  by  unfavourable  outward 
conditions,  the  influence  of  which  was  not  the  same, 
it  must  be  pointed  out,  with  regard  to  the  intellectual 
life  of  Poland  as  with  regard  to  its  literary  and 
artistic  life. 

The  year  1831  was  the  beginning  in  Poland  of 
a  period  of  arrested  development  in  every  branch 
of  her  national  life.  The  intellectual  element  in 
the  country  was  in  part  banished  and  in  part 
paralysed  by  Draconian  measures.  As  a  result  there 
was  a  great  danger  of  mental  apathy  in  the  com- 
munity. It  was  absolutely  necessary  to  escape  from 
this  condition  of  things,  which  was  threatening  the 
country  with  a  retrograde  movement.  It  was  neces- 
sary to  find  some  means  for  reawakening  the  natural 
aptitude  for  the  cult  of  the  sciences,  an  aptitude 
which  was  almost  asleep,  and,  so  to  speak,  frozen. 

This  role  was  exactly  filled  by  the  creation  in 
1862  of  the  '' Szkola  Glowna  "— that  is  to  say,  by 
the  revival  of  the  Polish  University  of  Warsaw, 
which  was  again  closed  in  its  turn  in  1869,  not 
identically  the  same,  it  is  true,  but  still  a  revival. 

The  task  undertaken  by  the  *'  Szkola  Glowna " 
consisted,  as  M.  Dicks  tein,  a  distinguished  Polish 
mathematician,  has  explained, i  of  creating  the  largest 

^  *'  Ksiega  pamiatkowa  b.  wychowancow  b.  Szkoly  Glownej  " 
(1905). 


INTELLECTUAL    POLAND  321 

possible  number  of  Chairs  and  filling  them  with 
the  best  scientific  forces  ;  establishing  contact  with 
the  research  work  of  the  West ;  creating  a  favour- 
able atmosphere  for  the  scientists  and  students  of 
the  future. 

It  was  necessary,  therefore,  to  fill  up  the  gaps  in 
the  general  education  of  the  people  caused  by 
long  years  of  stagnation  ;  to  render  higher  education 
more  accessible  to  the  young ;  to  show  them  the 
important  problems  that  await  them  in  future  ;  to 
prepare  useful  citizens  for  the  country,  capable  of 
occupying  responsible  posts,  demanding,  University 
training.  In  spite  of  adverse  circumstances  the 
*'  Szkola  Glowna "  discharged  its  duties  for  seven 
years. 

After  a  few  years  important  scientific  works 
written  by  former  students  of  the  "  Szkola  Glowna  " 
began  to  appear  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Association 
of  Exact  Science  in  Paris,  and  in  the  Transactions  of 
the  Academy  of  Sciences  in  Cracow.  Erom  amidst 
these  pupils  there  had  grown  a  generation  which 
for  the  last  forty  years  has  been  uninterruptedly 
working  on  the  scientific  and  social  fields  in  Poland. 
But  only  a  handful  of  them  were  in  a  position  to 
devote  themselves  to  purely  scientific  work  or  to 
fill  University  Chairs. 

It  is  known  that  the  *'  Szkola  Glowna  "  prioduced  a 
large  number  of  men  of  great,  if  not  exceptional, 
value  (Sienkiewicz,  Prus,  Swietochowski,  Chmielow- 
ski,  Dygasinski,  Rembowski,  Badouin  de  Cour- 
tenay,  Dunin,  Kraushar,  Gloger,  etc) ;  that  amongst 

21 


322  INTELLECTUAL    POLAND 

them  appeared  magnificent  talents  and  critical 
minds  ;  that  they  created  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
periods  of  our  literature  ;  that  they  brought  about  a 
powerful  intellectual  movement  whose  waves  and 
currents  flow  through  our  life  even  to-day.  All 
this  could  not  have  been  a  matter  of  accident,  but 
was  much  more  owing  to  the  merit  of  the  School. 

The  School  freed  new  forces  of  the  nation,  which 
would  otherwise  have  withered  away  and  perished  ; 
it  succeeded  in  utilizing  the  great  passion  for  learn- 
ing in  the  young,  and  the  inclination  to  education  in 
the  older  ;  it  created  a  scientific  atmosphere  for 
the  Polish  intellectual  classes  ;  it  gave  free  play  to 
Polish  thought ;  it  welded  heterogeneous  elements  of 
the  nation  in  the  fire  of  comradeship ;  it  prepared 
the  soil  for  the  new  seed  of  democracy ;  and  it 
restored,  or  at  least  helped  to  restore,  the  spiritual 
balance  of  the  people,  which  was  disturbed  by  a 
one-sided  artistic  development,  by  transferring  the 
excess  of  energy  from  the  heart  to  the  brain. 

A  most  astonishing  fact  is  that  this  was  accom- 
plished during  barely  seven  years,  not  only  through 
the  scientific  knowledge  of  the  teachers  of  the  School, 
but  also,  as  has  been  pointed  out  by  M.  A. 
Swietochowski,  through  its  national  character:  the 
School  was  Polish  throughout. 


Students  listening  to  lectures  delivered  in  their  native 
tongue  [says  M.  Swietochowski]  are  not  hampered  by  various 
psychic  factors  obstructing  the  free  association  of  thoughts 
and  cooling  rather   than   stimulating   their   interest  in  work. 

The  collective  soul  of  every  nation  is  a  distinct  prism  in 


X' 


INTELLECTUAL    POLAND  323 

itself,  in  which  the  rays  of  knowledge  break  in  a  specific 
manner,  different  from  other  prisms.  It  can  also  be  compared 
to  an  individual  organism  which  can  feed  itself  successfully 
only  according  to  its  own  nature.  The  national  School  offers 
its  people  suitable  food  in  the  best  form  for  assimilation  and 
for  maintenance  of  health  and  vigour. 

All  this  was  done  by  the  "  Szkola  Gl6wna."  To  say  this  is 
not  a  patriotic  sophism,  but  a  conclusion  based  on  experience, 
because  whenever  we  had  the  chance  of  having  a  Polish 
University  its  strong  influence  was  immediately  and  distinctly 
reflected  in  the  development  of  the  nation's  culture.  We 
know  the  salutary  influence  of  the  Universities  of  Warsaw 
and  Vilno,  we  know  what  powerful  light  they  cast  on  the 
country,  and  what  deep  darkness  fell  upon  her  the  moment 
these  institutions  were  closed.^ 

In  place  of  this  wholesome  institution,  which  pro- 
vided for  the  needs  of  the  intellectual  development 
of  the  country,  there  was  established  in  1869  its 
exact  opposite— a  University  whose  aim  was,  in  the 
words  of  Professor  Askenazy,  *'  to  serve  as  an 
auxiliary  instrument,  among  many  others,  with  a 
view  to  the  policy  of  unification,  in  conformity  with 
the  idea  of  the  State  as  a  means  of  levelling  every- 
thing and  everybody,  as  well  as  to  act  as  a  purely 
bureaucratic  machine  created  for  the  purpose  of 
distributing  University  diplomas."  2  Tdie  Polish 
language  was  banished  from  this  new  University, 
together  with  Polish  professors  and  scholars.  From 
the  standpoint  of  scientific  movement,  it  played  no 
part  whatever  either  in  Poland  or  in  Russia, 
and  its  professorial  staff  was  destitute  of  scientific 
authorities. 

'  "  Ksiega  Szkoly  Glownej,"  p.  23. 

"  S.  Askenazy,  Uniw.  Warszawski,  1905. 


324  INTELLECTUAL    POLAND 

Further,  some  of  its  professors  set  themselves  to 
create  in  the  minds  of  their  pupils  a  real  feeling  of 
distaste  for  the  institutions  and  ideas  of  Western 
Europe.  France,  for  instance,  was  represented  to 
them  as  a  decadent  country,  in  process  of  falling  to 
pieces.  It  is  not  astonishing,  therefore,  that  the 
result  of  all  this  has  been  disastrous  as  regards 
Poland,  and  entirely,  negative  as  regards  Russia. 
The  numbers  of  the  attendance  at  this  University 
have  fallen  210  per  cent,  as  compared  with  those 
of  the  university  it  replaced. 

Austrian  Poland,  which  occupies  a  very  inferior 
economic  and  cultural  position,  and  where  half  the 
population  is  made  up  of  Ruthenians,  much  less 
suited  to  a  University  education,  has  nevertheless 
an  attendance  of  students  several  times  greater  than 
is  found  in  the  Kingdom  of  Poland.  In  1905,  in 
Galicia  there  were  5,000  students  out  of  7,500,000 
inhabitants,  while  in  Russian  Poland,  out  of 
11,000,000  inhabitants  only  1,500  were  students. 
TJie  fact  that  Russian  and  Prussian  Poland  have  no 
Polish  University,  has  sent  a  large  number  of 
students  to  the  Universities  of  Fjrance,  Belgium, 
Switzerland,  Germany,  etc. 

It  will  be  superfluous  to  try  to  show  that  the 
constitutional  and  liberal  regime  enjoyed  by  the 
Poles  in  Galicia  has  had  a  highly  favourable  effect 
on  the  development  of  Polish  intellectual  life  in 
that  part  of  Poland. 


INTELLECTUAL    POLAND  325 

Revival  of  the  Polish  University  at  Warsaw  in 
1915.— Lastly,  as  a  concluding  proof  that  the  Poles 
have  been  able  to  preserve  potentially  their  natural 
capabilities,  and  that  the  whole  policy  of  Russi- 
fication  or  Germanization  has  succeeded  only  in 
retarding  its  development,  there  may  be  adduced 
the  fact  of  the  creation  of  the  University  of  Warsaw 
after  the  fall  of  that  city. 

The  Warsaw  Courier  (November  1915)  describes 
at  some  length  the  extraordinary  difficulties  which 
had  to  be  overcome  by  the  Education  Department  of 
the  Citizens'  Committee  of  Warsaw,  in  order  to 
create  in  that  city  a  Polish  University  and  a  Polish 
Technical  High  School.  Having  obtained  the 
permission  of  the  authorities,  the  said  depart- 
ment achieved  its  aim  in  the  course  of  a  few 
weeks,  in  spite  of  interrupted  communication  with 
the  provinces,  where  there  is  to  be  found  a 
not  inconsiderable  number  of  Polish  scientists  and 
professors,  in  spite  of  the  devastation  of  the  country, 
threatened  by  poverty  and  hunger,  and  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  the  original  Polish  University  of 
Warsaw  had  been  closed  for  fifty  years. 

The  above-mentioned  paper  pays  a  high  tribute 
to  this  remarkable  and  unusual  manifestation  of  the 
energy  and  organizing  talent  of  the  Poles,  and  adds : 
**  History  will  some  day  do  justice  to  this  city,  which, 
being  able  to  offer  neither  money  nor  facilities  to 
Polish  science,  has  yet  always  possessed  a  certain 
number  of  inen  devoted  to  science  with  disinterested- 
ness and  endurance,  who  have  fulfilled  their  duty 


326 


INTELLECTUAL    POLAND 


towards  civilization  and  country  without  any 
brighter  prospects,  and  often  under  most  trying 
financial   conditions." 


Production  of  Books  in  PoZa/?cZ.— Perhaps  a  few 
statistical  data  showing  the  number  and  the  distribu- 
tion of  Polish  books  published  in  1911  will  be  of 
interest  in  considering  the  reality  of  Polish  literary 
and  scientific   propensities. 

According  to  the  Swiss  periodical  Droit  d'Auteur^ 
the  following  was  the  production  of  books  in  1911 : 
France,  11,652;  Great  Britain,  10,914;  Holland, 
3,673;  Poland,  3,462;  Spain,  2,790;  Hungary, 
2,032. 

The  following  is  a  classification  of  Polish  books, 
according  to  their  subject-matter   (1910):— 


Bibliography,  63 

Philosophy  and  Psychology,66 

Mathematics  and  Natural 
Sciences,  141 

Anthropology,  13 

History,  135 

Medicine,  100 

Law,  Economics,  and  Socio- 
logy, 98 

Ethnology  and  Ethnography,  9 

History  of  Literature,  164 

Comparative  Study  of  Lan- 
guages, 15 

Technology,  42 

Trade  and  Commerce,  22 

Agriculture,  84 


Geography  and  Travels,  39 
Novels,  267 
Poetry,  122 
Art,  51 
Music,  114 
Drama,  82 
Pedagogy,  70 

Textbooks  for  Schools,  117 
Books  for  Children,  173 
Theology,  370 
Popular  Literature,  262 
Sensational  Literature,  57 
Books  of  Songs,  etc.,  81j 
Miscellaneous,  322 
Almanacks,  147 
Reports,  etc.,  200 


INTELLECTUAL    POLAND  327 

The  above  examples  prove  that  it  is  true  to  say 
that  the  Poles  have  been  able  to  preserve  all  those 
civilizing  propensities  which  from  mediseval  days 
down  to  the  present  time  have  distinguished  Polish 
national  life.  And  this  in  spite  of  the  unequal 
struggle,  in  spite  of  the  violence  of  the  means 
employed  by  th!e  partitioning  Powers— a  violence 
which  oftentimes  nothing  but  the  limitations  of  the 
human  imagination  could  check.  The  Powers  in 
question  have  succeeded  merely  in  hindering  the 
normal  development  of  these  propensities,  in  creat- 
ing for  them  conditions  entirely  out  of  harmony 
with  the  past  history  of  the  intellectual  life  of 
Poland. 


Intellectual  Life  in  Poland  in  the  Past.— Before 
the  loss  of  their  political  independence,  the  Poles 
possessed  five  Universities,  and  were  consider- 
ing the  foundation  of  two  more— in  Posen  and 
in  Wolhynia.  At  the  beginning  of  this  War 
they  possessed  only  two.  The  Polish  Univer- 
sity of  Cracow,  founded  in  1364— that  is  to 
say,  at  an  earlier  date  than  the  foundation  of  the 
first  German  University— quickly  became  the  rendez- 
vous of  young  students  who  came  in  streams  from 
all  the  countries  of  Europe,  even  from  those  which 
already  possessed  their  own  Universities,  to  attend 
the  lectures  of  celebrated  professors  such  as  the 
astronomer  Wojciech  (better  known  as  Adalbert), 
the   teacher    of    the    immortal    Copernicus.      Thus 


328  INTELLECTUAL    POLAND 

in  the  period  1433-1509  nearly  half  the  students 
of  the  Cracow  University  were  foreigners.  But 
now,  in  our  own  time,  the  young  students  of  Russian 
and  Prussian  Poland,  as  well  as  numbers  of  scholars, 
are  obliged  to  migrate  to  foreign  countries,  such 
as  France,  Switzerland,  Belgium,  Germany,  and 
others,  to  seek  the  light  they  cannot  find  in  their 
own  land  or  are  forbidden  to  kindle  there. 

Frankly,  such  a  state  of  things  is  not  deserved 
by  the  Poland  Which  in  the  past  has  given  to  the 
civilized  world  sufficient  proofs  of  its  capacity  to 
contribute  to  the  development  of  intellectual  life  and 
civilization  in  general. 

The  Cracow  University,  which  educated  Coper- 
nicus, had  as  early  as  1416,  says  the  *'  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica,"  ''  so  far  acquired  a  European  reputation 
as  to  venture  upon  forwarding  an  expression  of  its 
views  in  connection  with  the  deliberations  of  the 
Council  of  Constance,  and  towards  the  close  of  the 
fifteenth  century  the  Cracow  University  was  in  high 
repute  as  a  school  of  both  astronomical  and  human- 
istic studies."  ' 

Leonard  Cox,  an  Englishman  and  a  former 
student  of  Cracow  University,  in  his  De  Laudibus 
Academice  Cracoviensis,  published  in  1518,  gave 
expression  to  his  intense  admiration  of  the  Polish 
scholastic  dialectic,  and  it  was  Erasmus  of  Rotterdam 
himself  who,  in  1529,  dedicated  his  edition  of  the 
works  of  Seneca  to  the  Bishop  of  Cracow,  as 
to  a  centre  of  learning  of  European  reputation. 
^  "  Encyc.  Brit.,"  1911,  vol.  xxvii.  p.  757. 


INTELLECTUAL    POLAND  329 

Although  in  the  subsequent  period  of  Polish  thought 
there  was  a  decline,  the  Poles  have  always  pre- 
served their  interest  in  the  intellectual  life,  public 
instruction,  methods  of  teaching,  etc.  Poland, 
therefore,  as  was  stated  a  few  months  ago 
by  M.  Siedlecki  in  the  Warsaw  weekly  paper 
Tggodnik  Ilustrowany^  came  up  to  the  require- 
ments and  the  high  standard  of  University  life 
as  far  back  as  the  fifteenth  century,  and  since 
that  time  she  has  not  once  deviated  from'  her 
spiritual  course.  There  has  been  no  period  in  her 
historic  past  When  the  loss  of  a  centre  of  higher 
education  has  not  been  painfully  felt  by  the  nation. 
What  the  Poles  are  apt  to  call  the  epoch  of  decline 
in  Poland,  namely  the  seventeenth  century,  witnessed 
not  only  the  formation  of  higher  educational  institu- 
tions in  Poland  proper,  but  also  in  Lithuania  and 
the  distant  provinces  of  the  realm.  The  banner  of 
higher  education  was  hoisted  over  the  northern 
town  of  Polock,  bringing  with  it  the  torch  of  Western 
European  intellectual  light.  In  the  same  century  iwe 
find  another  example  of  Polish  educational  initiative 
in  the  formation  of  the  Academy  of  Kieff,  so  that 
at  a  time  which,  with  scrupulous  self-criticism,  the 
Poles  term  the  period  of  decay,  Polish  science  had 
still  so  much  elasticity,  so  much  excess  of  energy, 
that  it  was  able  to  undertake  intellectual  missions 
outside  the  ethnographic  boundaries  of  the  Polish 
Commonwealth . 


Ill 


THE    ORGANIZATION    OF    POLISH 
INTELLECTUAL  LIFE 

If  fettered  Poland  has  been  able  to  preserve  and 
even  to  develop  what  we  have  called  her  "  potential 
faculties,"  this  has  been  made  possible  only  by  the 
enormous  sacrifices  she  has  always  been  ready  to 
make  for  the  retention  at  any  cost  of  her  indi- 
viduality. Of  this  an  eloquent  example  is  to  be 
found  in  the  institutions  connected  with  the  intel- 
lectual life  of  Poland.  These  are  the  incarnation  of 
the  spirit  at  once  of  sacrifice,  of  self-defence, 
and  of  organization. 

Polish  Scientific  Institutions  and  Societies.— After 
Poland  lost  her  independence,  the  necessity  of  main- 
taining and  developing  science  and  arts  called  into 
being  a  number  of  new  societies  as  far  as  the  parti- 
tioning Powers  would  permit.  One  of  the  most 
important  of  these  is  the  Ossolinski  National  Insti- 
tute and  Public  Library  in  Lemberg.  It  was 
founded  by  Count  Joseph  Maximilian  Ossolinski  in 
1817.  In  1823  the  Lubomirski  Museum  was 
added  to  it.  This  Institute  has  gradually  become 
one  of  the  leading  scientific  institutions  in  Poland, 

3SJ 


INTELLECTUAL    POLAND  331 

although  before  the  year  1860  its  development  was 
greatly  hindered  by  the  repressive  measures  of 
the  Austrian  Government.  Even  the  adjective 
*'  national "  in  the  name  of  the  Institute  was 
regarded  as  an  offence  by  the  Government,  which 
persistently  tried  to  change  it  to  *'  scientific."  In 
spite  of  these  difficulties  "  Ossolineum,"  as  it  is 
commonly  called,  has  flourished,  and  possesses  over 
£32,000  of  capital,  as  well  as  a  large  building  in 
Lemberg  and  its  own  printing  works,  library,  and 
museum. 

In  Posen,  the  Society  for  Promoting  Science, 
founded  by  Karol  Mardnkowski  in  1841,  has 
rendered  great  services  to  the  cause  of  Polish 
intellectual  life.  This  prosperous  Society  has 
endowment    funds    amounting    to    £52,000. 

There  are  two  institutions  in  Poland  whose 
special  object  is  helping  the  cause  of  research.  The 
first  is  the  Mianowski  Loan  Fund,  established 
in  Warsaw  in  1881  by  Dr.  Joseph  Mianowski,  and 
the  second  is  the  Society  for  Promotion  of  Polish 
Science,  founded  in  Lemberg  in  1901. 

Among  the  most  visible  signs  of  the  activity 
of  the  Mianowski  Fund  are  the  publications  which 
it  has  helped  to  issue.  Its  catalogue  contains  over 
620  titles  of  works  in  all  departments  of  knowledge. 
Besides  separate  books  this  institution  helps  to 
publish  series  of  important  works. 

The  Lemberg  Society  for  Promoting  Polish 
Science  was  founded  twenty  years  later  than  the 
Mianowski  Loan  Fund,  and  cannot  therefore  boast 


332  INTELLECTUAL    POLAND 

of  an  equally  splendid  record  ;  nevertheless,  con- 
sidering its  comparatively  slender  resources,  it  has 
given  proofs  of  great  vitality  and  efficiency.  During 
the  second  year  of  its  existence  its  membership  in- 
creased by  1,015.  The  aim  of  the  Society  is  "  to 
help  Polish  scientists  or  institutions  which  devote 
themselves  to  the  cause  of  research  in  any  branch 
of  knowledge  "  ;  this  aim  has  been  achieved  chiefly 
by  helping  such  persons  or  institutions  to  publish 
the  results  of  their  inquiries.  So  far  49  books 
have  been  published,  on  the  following  subjects : 
Polish  Law,  History,  History  of  Literature,  Art, 
Science,  and  Psychology.  Besides  these  works  the 
Society  issues  the  following  publications :  "  TJie 
Archivum  of  Knowledge  "—divided  into  two  sec- 
tions:  the  historical -philosophical  (6  volumes)  and 
the  mathematical -scientific— and  *'  Studies  in  the 
History  of  Polish  Law."  In  order  to  enable  foreign 
scholars  to  become  acquainted  with  the  results  of  the 
Society's  researches  it  issues  a  *'  Bulletin  "  in  French 
(12  volumes  up  till  now). 

These  few  societies  do  not  exhaust  all  the 
activities  of  the  Polish  community,  in  support  of 
art  and  science.  Many  smalleri  associations  and 
institutions  exist,  and  some  of  them  have  rendered 
valuable  services  to  the  cause  of  Polish  intellectual 
life.    Such  are,  for  instance  :— 

Circle  of  the  Polish  Mathematicians  at  Warsaw  (Kolo  mate- 
maty  czne  w  Warszawie). 

Warsaw  Psychological  Association  (Tow.  psychologiczne  w 
Warszawie). 


INTELLECTUAL   POLAND  333 

Lemberg      Pedagogical      Society      (Tow.     pedagogiczne     we 

Lwowie). 
Polish    Philosophical   Association   at  Lemberg  (Polskie  tow. 

filozoficzne  we  Lwowie). 
Cracow  Philosophical  Society  (Tow.  filozoficzne  w  Krakowie). 
Lemberg  Law  Association  (Tow.  prawnicze  Iwowskie). 
Warsaw  Law  Association  (Tow.  prawnicze  warszawskie). 
Cracow  Law  and  Economic  Association    (Tow.  prawnicze  i 

ekonomiczne  w  Krakowie). 
Lemberg  Historical  Society  (Tow.  historyczne  we  Lwowie). 
Cracow  Historical  Society  (Tow.  historyczne  w  Krakowie). 
Warsaw    Historical    Society    (Tow.    milosnikow    historji    w 

Warszawie). 
Cracow     Numismatic     Society     (Tow.     numizmatyczne     w 

Krakowie). 
Lemberg  Folk-lore  Society  (Tow.  ludoznawcze  we  Lwowie). 
Lemberg    Mickiewicz   Literary    Society  (Tow.   literackie   im. 

Mickiewicza  we  Lwowie),  etc. 

The  interest  taken  in  all  scientific  societies  by 
the  Polish  community  is  very  noteworthy.  The 
best  proofs  of  this  are  the  great  nrnnber  of  members 
and  the  rapid  spread  and  development  of  such 
societies  ;  the  latter  fact  also  proves  how  very  much 
desired  they  were.  A  few  years  were  sufiicient  for 
the  Warsaw  Scientific  Society  to  become  a  very 
influential  institution. 

Unfortunately,  the  Polish  scientific  societies  and 
institutions  depend  for  their  monetary  resources 
solely  on  voluntary  subscriptions.  Thus,  for  instance, 
a  few  years  ago  a  generous  patroness  presented  the 
Public  Library  in  Warsaw  with  a  fine  building, 
the  cost  of  the  erection  of  which  represented  over 
£40,000.  The  donations  received  by  the  Cracow 
Academy,  the   Warsaw  Scientific  Society,   and  the 


334  INTELLECTUAL    POLAND 

Vilno  Society  afford  another  convincing  proof  of 
the  great  generosity  of  the  public  in  Poland.  Thus, 
as  soon  as  the  Vilno  Society  of  Friends  of  Learn- 
ing received  a  few  years  ago  a  legal  status,  gifts 
began  to  pour  in  from  all  over  Lithuania ;  col- 
lections of  books,  archives,  and  many  other  gifts 
were  sent,  regardless  of  the  fact  that  many  times 
previously  such  collections  have  after  a  time  been 
taken  away  to  Russia  by  the  Government. 


Central  Institutions  of  Intellectual  Life  in  Poland, 
—All  the  above  institutions  have  been  created  as  being 
essential  to  the  promotion  of  the  development  of  the 
intellectual  life  of  the  country.  There  are  other 
institutions  which  occupy  a  more  central  position 
and  which  exercise  a  more  controlling  or  directing 
influence. 

At  the  head  of  Polish  scientific  institutions  ;s 
the  Cracow  Academy,  originally  called  the  Cracow 
Scientific  Society.  It  was  inaugurated  in  February 
1816  by  the  Rector  of  Cracow  University,  Valen- 
tine Litwinski.  The  foundation  of  this  institution  is 
directly  connected  with  Cracow  University,  ^vhich 
represents  the  embodiment  of  centuries  of  Polish 
intellectual  tradition.  According  to  the  regulation 
of  1816,  the  rectors  of  Cracow  University  had 
to  perform  at  the  same  time  the  functions  of  the 
President  of  the  Cracow  Scientific  Society.  After  the 
closing,  by  order  of  the  Russian  Government,  of  the 
Society  of  the  Friends  of  Learning  in  Warsaw,  the 


INTELLECTUAL    POLAND  335 

Cracow  Scientific  Society  became  the  leading  insti- 
tution in  tiie  intellectual  life  of  the  whole  of  Poland. 
In  1873  it  received  new  regulations  and  the  title 
of  "  Academy."  During  the  forty  years  from  that 
date,  acting  under  somewhat  better  political  con- 
ditions, the  Academy  has  done  excellent  work  in 
every  domain  of  knowledge.  Its  publications  of 
important  documents  relating  to  Polish  History, 
Literature  and  Law,  Polish  Bibliography,  the 
History  of  Art  in  Poland,  Archaeology  and  Eth- 
nography, are  truly  monumental  works  in  no  way 
inferior  to  the  corresponding  publications  of  other 
nations. 

At  present  the  Academy  has  commenced  the  publi- 
cation of  the  *'  Polish  Encyclopaedia  "  ;  the  con- 
tributors to  this  number  several  hundred  and  the 
volumes  several  score.  There  is  a  branch  of  the 
Academy  in  Paris,  and  for  several  years  now  a 
party  of  Polish  scholars  sent  by  the  Academy  to 
Rome  has  been  conducting  researches  relating  to 
the  history  of  Poland.  Similar  parties  have  latterly 
visited  Sweden  and  Hungary  for  the  same  purpose. 
An  examination  of  the  list  of  publications  shows 
the  wide  scope  of  the  Academy's  activities. 

As  Lemberg  did  not  wish  to  compete  with  the 
Cracow  Academy,  no  large  and  comprehensive 
Society  of  a  similar  nature  has  been  formed  in 
Eastern  Galicia,  but  in  respect  of  the  number  of 
societies  devoted  to  the  furthering  of  special  subjects 
this  town  is  first  in  all  Poland.  In  Warsaw,  Posen, 
and  Vilno  the  need  for  an  institution  which  would 


336  INTELLECTUAL    POLAND 

be  representative  of  all  that  was  best  in  the  intel- 
lectual life  of  each  part  of  the  country,  was  also 
felt.  There  was  a  twofold  reason  for  this  :  first,  the 
difference  in  the  conditions  prevailing  in  the  three 
parts  of  Poland — Russian,  Prussian,  and  Austrian  ; 
and  secondly,  the  fact  that  even  the  many  and  varied 
activities  of  the  Academy  were  not  sufficient  to  meet 
the  growing!  intellectual  needs  of  the  country.  At 
the  present  time  the  centres  of  intellectual  activity  in 
Poland  may  be  divided  into  five,  namely:  Cracow, 
which  serves  as  such  for;  the  whole  of  Poland  ;  Lem- 
berg,  for  Galicia ;  Warsaw,  for  the  Kingdom  of 
Poland  ;  Vilno,  for  Lithuania  ;  and  Posen,  for  the 
Duchy  of  Posen.  Tborn  may  be  added  as  a  sixth 
centre,  for  it  can  boast  of  a  smaller  but  very, 
energetic  Society. 

After  the  suppression  in  1833,  by  Russian  Imperial 
order,  of  the  Towarzystwo  Naukowe  Warszawskie 
(Warsaw  Scientific  Society)  there  was  no  central 
institution  in  Warsaw  co-ordinating  the  scientific  life 
of  this  part  of  Poland.  It  was  only  in  1907  that 
the  revival  of  the  aboye  institution  was  allowed. 
The  work  of  the  Society  is  carried  out  in  sections, 
which  publish  their  Transactions.  There  are  three 
sections  :  (1)  Philology  and  Literature  ;  (2)  Anthro- 
pology, Social  Sciences,  History  and  Philosophy ; 
(3)  Mathematics  and  Natural  Sciences.  The  Society 
possesses  a  certain  number  of  laboratories  for 
research  in  the  departments  of  Physiology,  Anthro- 
pology, Neuro  -  biology,  Meteorology,  Radiology, 
Zoology,    etc. 


INTELLECTUAL    POLAND  337 

In  German  Poland  the  Polish  Scientific  Movement 
is  promoted  as  far  as  possible  by  the  Towarzystwo 
Przyjaciol  Nauk  w  Poznaniu  (Society  of  Friends  of 
Learning  in  Posen),  founded  in  1857.  It  issues  an 
Annual  (since  its  foundation)  and  Medical  News 
(since  1889),  as  well  as  separate  publications.  It 
is  also  active  in  promoting  scientific  lectures,  the 
care  of  ancient  monuments,  and  the  erection  of 
statues  to  the  distinguished  dead. 

The  Society  consists  of  five  sections:  (1)  History, 
and  Literature  (existing  since  1857);  (2)  Natural 
Sciences  (since  1857);  (3)  Medicine  (since  1865); 
(4)  Law  and  Economics  (since  1908);  and  (5) 
Technology  (since  1912). 

The  Society  possesses  a  library  consisting  of 
140,000  volumes,  800  manuscripts,  as  well  as 
numerous  collections,  viz.:  (1)  Picture  Gallery 
(about  800  pictures) ;  (2)  Prehistoric  Archaeological 
Collection;  (3)  Ethnographic  Collection;  (4)  Nu- 
mismatic Collection  ;  (5)  Natural  History  Collec- 
tion ;  (6)  Collection  of  Objects  of  National  and 
Historical  Interest. 

As  to  Lithuania,  it  was  only  in  1906  that  permis- 
sion was  granted  to  found  Towarzystwo  Przyjaci61 
Nauk  w  Wilnie  (The  Society  of  Friendis  of  Learning 
in  yilno).  This  Society  issues  an  annual  publica- 
tion as  well  as  separate  publications.  The  meetings 
take  place  once  a  month.^  TJie  Society  organizes 
lectures  and  devotes  its  energies  to  the  preservation 
of  national  monuments  and  memorials.  In  1911 
its  members  numbered  400:    353  ordinary  and  47 

22 


338  INTELLECTUAL    POLAND 

honorary,  patrons,  and  life -members.  The  Society 
possesses  a  library  as  well  as  rich   archives. 

During  1913  the  Society  was  amalgamated  with 
Muzeum  Nauki  i  Sztuki  (The  Vilno  Art  and  Science 
Museum)  and  is  therefore  now  in  possession  of 
the  valuable  collections  of  the  Museum. 

We  must  again  emphasize  the  fact  that,  in  order 
to  estimate  at  its  true  worth  the  work  done  by 
Polish  learned  societies,  it  is  necessary  to  realize 
the  difficulties  they  have  had  to  contend  with.  In 
Galicia,  where  the  Government  did  not  hinder  their 
formation,  they  developed  rapidly  and  accomplished 
a  great  deal  of  valuable  work.  In  the  Kingdom 
of  Poland  it  was  not  until  the  year  1905,  when  the 
status  of  such  societies  was  legalized,  that  the  con- 
ditions became  somewhat  easier  ;  since  then  a  great 
number  of  societies  have  arisen  and  flourished.  It 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  continuity  of  their 
work  had  been  completely  broken,  and  that  for 
over  half  a  century  there  had  been  no  room  in 
Russia  for  Polish  intellectual  activity.  TMs  break 
lasted  from  1831  till  1907  ;  it  was  not  till  1907  that 
the  formation  of  the  Warsaw  Scientific  Society  was 
permitted.  Vilno  suffered  the  same  f ate  ;  its  ancient 
University  was  closed  and  all  societies  abolished  in 
1831.  The  only  Society  which  escaped  was  the 
Medical  Society,  but  its  privileges  were  gradually 
curtailed,  and  in  1874  it  was  forbidden  to  use  the 
Polish  language  ;  Russian  was  the  language  to  be 
used  at  meetings  and  for  documents,  treatises,  etc., 
but  any  of  the  members  who  did  not  know  it  were 


INTELLECTUAL    POLAND  339 

allowed  to  speak  French,  German,  or  English ; 
finally,  the  Society  was  completely  taken  over  by  the 
Russian  Administration.  The  list  of  Polish  societies 
which  were  abolished  by  the  Government  and  those 
which  existed  without  being  authorized  to  exist 
would  be  very  long.  Although  conditions  were 
better  before  the  war  broke  out,  it  may  be  said 
that  every  society  which  is  flourishing  and  attracts 
large  numbers  of  the  intellectual  classes  is  threatened! 
with  extinction  by  the  Government. 

It  is  almost  superfluous  to  speak  of  the  difficulties 
encountered  in  Prussian  Poland. 

The  before-mentioned  fact  showing  how  the 
Leipsic  University  has  misused  certain  funds  which 
were  given  by  a  Polish  magnate,  Prince  Jablo- 
nowski,  in  1774,  is  a  very  typical  instance  among 
many  others. 


EPILOGUE 

The  Poles  are  standing  out  for  the  acquisition  of 
such  conditions  as  will  allow  them  to  develop  their 
living  personality  and  to  bring  their  tribute  to  the 
common  treasure  of  mankind. 

Apparently  the  fulfilment  of  these  conditions 
does  not  require  the  right  to  an  independent  political 
self-determination,  an!d  if  so,  i.e.  if  the  Poles  do 
not  claim  what  is  sometimes  called  a  radical  solution 
of  the  Polish  question,  the  present  war  may  easily, 
it  may  be  said,  realize  their  aspirations.  This 
ought  to  be  the  view  especially  of  that  part  of 
Polish  public  opinion  which  comprises  its  intellec- 
tual classes,  the  mental  attitude  of  which  in  all 
countries  is  generally  characterized  by  a  diminished 
enthusiasm  for  such  things  as  the  idea  of  a  king, 
that  of  a  national  army,  or  that  of  outward  strength 
or  expansion. 

This  is  perhaps  true  in  the  case  of  the  countries 
which  have  never  ceased  to  enjoy  political  indepen- 
dence, but  it  is  certainly  false  in  the  case  of  a 
country,  which,  like  Poland,  has  lost  this  indepen- 
dence.     The    intellectual    classes    in    Poland    take 

840 


INTELLECTUAL    POLAND  341 

their  stand  firmly  under  the  banner  of  political 
independence.  For  them,  as  for  other  sections  of 
Polish  society,  freedom  constitutes  the  indispensable 
condition  of  the  development  of  Poland's  indi- 
viduality, which  ought  not  to  be  confounded  with 
"originality."  The  history  of  the  last  hundred 
years  has  shown  to  the  Poles  quite  conclusively  that 
there  cannot  be  real  and  lasting  freedom  for  Poland 
without  political  independence,  without  a  Polish 
State  and  a  Polish  Army.  The  spirit  of  imperialism 
and  expansion,  the  jealousy  between  nations,  etc., 
will  remain  for  a  long  time  the  main  obstacle 
towards  a  mutual  understanding  between  nations, 
especially  in  the  case  of  inequality  in  their  respective 
strengths.  This  is  a  fact  which  cannot  be  abolished 
by  mere  reasoning  or  speculation,  like  those,  for 
instance,  which  are  based  on  the  distinction  between 
"  good-hearted  "  and  *'  brutal  *'  nations.  The  Poles 
have  little  to  expect,  either,  from  the  future  develop- 
ment of  what  is  called  *'  liberal "  tendencies  in 
politics.  History  shows  that  in  the  development  of 
liberal  and  progressive  political  parties  there  occur 
very  curious  transformations  as  soon  as  they  attain 
to  power  or  even  as  soon  as  they  realize  that  they 
are  beginning  to  exercise  a  real  influence  on  govern- 
mental authority. 

What  intellectual  Poland  wants  is  an  intense, 
complete,  peaceful,  and  uninterrupted  national  life. 
It  is  only  in  the  restoi^ed  Polish  State  that  such  a 
life  can  exist.  Such  an  intense  and  peaceful 
life  will  certainly  be  favourable  to  the  development 


342  INTELLECTUAL    POLAND 

of  those  fundamental  mental  ''  faculties  "  which  have 
been  responsible  for  the  development  of  Polish 
thought  in  the  past,  and  which  the  Poles  have  been 
able  to  preserve  in  spite  of  unfavourable  outward 
conditions. 

Among  these  ''  faculties  "  a  prominent  place  has 
been  taken  by  creative  imagination. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  different  nations 
contribute  not  merely  in  different  degrees  but  also 
in  different  ways  towards  the  development  of  various 
high  expressions  of  thought,  feelings  and  will.^  In 
this  connection  it  is  to  be  expected  that  psycholo- 
gists will  be  able  to  demonstrate  in  the  future  that 
the  Polish  national  genius  is  distinguished  for  the 

»  Herr  Hans  Delbrtick,  Professor  in  the  University  of  Berlin 
and  Deputy  to  the  Reichstag,  expressed  this  opinion  some  years 
ago  :  "  The  splendour  and  the  intellectual  wealth  of  our  epoch, 
our  progress  in  the  sciences,  in  philosophy,  in  art,  and  in  technical 
matters — in  a  word,  the  whole  of  civilization  is  based  on  the 
plurality  of  the  great  nations.  Each  has  its  own  qualities, 
its  own  nature,  its  own  development,  and  the  labour  and 
productions  of  each  have  an  influence  upon  the  others.  The 
great  minds  of  Germany  could  never  have  been  what  they 
were  without  Voltaire,  Rousseau,  Shakespeare,  and  neither 
the  French  nor  the  English  could  be  what  they  are  without 
Luther  and  the  Reformation."  Herbert  Spencer  and  other 
sociologists  affirm  that  the  world  passes  from  the  homogeneous 
to  the  heterogeneous,  everything  acquires  complexity  and  is 
subdivided.  The  division  of  labour  carried  to  infinity  con- 
duces to  the  interdependence  of  countries  and  of  individuals. 
This  interdependence  cannot  be  realized,  as  Fouillee  empha- 
sized, either  by  a  narrow  nationalism  or  by  a  half-understood 
internationalism  which  fails  to  recognize  both  the  true  nature 
and  the  true  needs  of  national  organisms. 


INTELLECTUAL    POLAND  343 

power  of  its  creative  imagination  and  its  peculiar 
mental  freedom.  From  Copernicus  down  to 
M.  Henryk  Sienkiewicz  this  quality  may  be  noticed. 
Professor  Hoffding,  a  well-known  Danish  philoso- 
pher and  psychologist,  writes  on  this  point  as 
follows  :— 

What  is  marvellous  in  scientific  genius  is  the  mental  freedom 
with  which  it  is  able  to  abstract  from  experience  and  to  picture 
the  different  possibilities  with  all  their  consequences,  in  order 
to  find  by  this  means  a  new  reality,  not  accessible  to  direct 
experience.  Kepler  ^  cited  this  mental  freedom  as  a  significant 
feature  in  the  genius  of  Copernicus.'' 

It  is  also  this  rare  freedom  and  power  of  imagina- 
tion which  strikes  one  most  in  reading  certain  of 
M.  Henryk  Sienkiewicz's  works. 

Simon  Newcomb  said  about  Copernicus  :— 

There  is  no  figure  in  astronomical  history  which  maj^  moTe 
appropriately  claim  the  admiration  of  mankind  through  all 
time  than  that  of  Copernicus.  Scarcely  any  great  work  was 
ever  so  exclusively  the  work  of  one  man  as  was  the  heliocentric 
system,  the  work  of  the  retiring  sage  of  Frauenburg.3 

Although  the  position  of  M.  Sienkiewicz  in  the 
history  of  literature  is  different  from  that  occupied 
by  Copernicus  in  the  history  of  astronomy,  the 
reading  of  his  works  leaves  a  similar  impression : 

^  Reuschle,  "  Kepler  und  die  Astronomie,"  Frankfurt,  1871, 
p.  119 :  "  Copernicus  vir  maximo  ingenio  et,  quod  in  hoc 
exercitio  magni  momenti  est,  animo  libero." 

^  Hoffding, ''  Outlines  of  Psychology,"  p.  179. 

3  "  The  Problems  of  Astronomy,"  pp.  83,  84. 


344  INTELLECTUAL    POLAND 

it  is  at  times  difficult  to  decide  what  to  admire  more, 
M.  Sienkiewicz's  works  or  tlie  mind  Which  produced 
them. 

That  creative  imagination  is  needed  both  in  the 
scientific  and  in  the  literary,  or  artistic  activities 
of  man  may.  be  easily  gathered  from  the  following 
statement  made  by  Professor  Karl  Pearson  in  his 
well-known  *' Grammar  of  Science"  (p.  30):— 

There  is  an  element  in  our  being  which  is  not  satisfied  by 

^'  the  formal  processes  of   reasoning  ;    it  is  the  imaginative  or 

aesthetic  side,  the  side  to  which  the  poets  and  philosophers 

appeal,  and  one  which  science  cannot,  to  be   scientific,  dis- 

^'  regard.  We  have  seen  that  the  imagination  must  not  replace 
the  reason  in  the  deduction  of  relation  and  law  from  classified 
facts.  But,  none  the  less,  disciplined  imagination  has  been 
at  the  bottom  of  all  great  scientific  discoveries.  All  great 
scientists  have,  in  a  certain  sense,  been  great  artists ;  the  man 
with  no  imagination  may  collect  facts,  but  he  cannot  make 
..  great  discoveries.     If  I  were  compelled  to  name  the  English- 

^  men  who  during  our  generation  have  had  the  widest  imagi- 
nations and  exercised  them  most  beneficially,  I  think  I  should 
put  the  novelists  and  poets  on  one  side  and  say  Michael 
Faraday  and  Charles  Darwin. 

The  above  quotation  tends  to  prove  that  it  is 
a  fallacy  to  think  that  pure  intellect  is,  so  to 
say,  a  self-supporting  and  self -determining  factor  in 
scientific  production.  But  it  is  equally  a  fallacy 
to  imagine  that  the  intellect  is  genetically  indepen- 
dent of  its  national  milieu,  "  because  the  '  father- 
land '  is  shown  by  history  to  be  an  institution 
necessary  to  the  life  of  man,  and  because  man  is 
by  nature  a  social  being,  and  tlie  univer-sal  com- 


INTELLECTUAL    POLAND  345 

munity  of  all  men  has  been  up  to  now— and  will 
be  for  long  years  yet—a  pure  creation  of  the  imagi- 
nation." I 

So  intellectual  Poland  no  less  than  literary  and 
artistic  Poland  is  deeply  interested  in  this  intense 
and  peaceful  civilizing  work,  which  she  needs  and  of 
which  the  possession  of  her  own  externally  indepen- 
dent political  form  is  a  condition.  Polish  thinkers 
as  well  as  Polish  politicians  are  right  when  they 
require,  not  a  disabled  and  humiliated  *'  autono- 
mous "  Poland,  fruit  of  somebody's  **  generosity  "  or 
**  benevolence,"  but  a  Poland  armed  for  the  future, 
and  conscious  of  her  own  strength  and  destiny,  con- 
scious of  the  civilizing  part  which  she  may  play  in 
a  regenerated  Europe,  a  Poland  embodied  with  a 
spirit  of  national  dignity  and  honour.  Romanti- 
cism ! 

It  is  a  curious  thing  that  only  the  Great  Powers 
are  allowed  to  be  romantic.  The  others,  and 
especially  the  Poles,  must  refrain  from  it  under 
pain  of  making  themselves  appear  ridiculous. 

On  May  15,  1916,  the  papers  published  a  state- 
ment made  by  Sir  Edward  Grey  to  the  London 
representative  of  the  Chicago  Daily  News,  which 
closed  with  the  following  sentence,  referring  to  the 
"German  authorities  :  *'  They  do  not  understand  that 
free  men  and  free  nations  will  rather  die  than  submit 
to  that  ambition,  and  that  there  can  be  no  end  to 
war  till  it  is  defeated  and  renounced." 

The  Times  of  June  3,  1916,  in  a  leading  article 

'  Le  Fur,  Revue  droit  inL  pub.y  vol.  v.  p.  463. 


346  INTELLECTUAL    POLAND 

on  the  Jutland  Naval  Battle  declared  that  this  battle 
will  steel  the  British  people's  *'  unalterable  resolu- 
tion to  win  this  war  or  perish." 

These  declarations  were  received  with  general 
approbation  and  enthusiasm  by  the  people. 

Similar  expressions  of  romanticism  might  be 
found  in  hundreds,  in  the  countries  of  the  Allies  as 
well  as  in  those  of  the  Central  Powers.  Everywhere 
they  meet  with  approval. 

Why,  then,  is  it  only  Polish  romanticism  that 
offends  the  ears  of  Europe? 

Why  must  the  Poles  have  preached  to  them  the 
necessity  of  slavery  when  the  whole  world  besides 
demands  the  liberty? 

That  is  a  deviation  from  the  moral  sense  which 
it  is   exceedingly  difficult  to  understand. 

But  as  has  been  stated  above,  for  intellectual 
Poland  the  question  of  the  political  independence  of 
the  country  is  not  simply  one  of  romanticism.  It 
can  confront  a  scientific  and  *'  positive  "  discussion. 

There  is  a  general  tendency  to  give  the  Poles 
lessons  in  practical  wisdom.  They  are  constantly 
invited  to  compromise  and  conciliation.  As  to  the 
compromise,  a  Polish  political  writer,  M.  Jan  Dom- 
browski,  said  recently  in  a  Polish  daily,  Dziennik 
Petrogradzki :  *'  Compromise  is  known  only  by 
Governments   and   parties— the   peoples   ignore   it." 

M.  Dombrowski  is  quite  right.  There  are  certain 
eternal  values,  certain  fundamental  facts  on  which 
the  development  of  mankind  is  based,  which  cannot 


INTELLECTUAL    POLAND  347 

be  made  the  object  of  compromise  or  conciliation. 
They  are,  and  they  will  ever  remain,  high  above 
international  congresses  and  diplomacy.  The  Poles 
wUl  never  understand  or  admit  that  their  country, 
and  they  themselves  may  be  made  the  property 
of  another  nation,  that  there  may  be  a  foreign 
mortgage  on  their  country. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  know  the  attitude  the 
Great  Powers  themselves  are  taking  towards  the 
suggestions  of  compromise  coming  from  outside  on 
matters  which  they  consider  of  vital  importance 
to  their  countries. 

Here  is  a  quotation  which  speaks  for  itself  :— 

In  the  meantime  the  British  people  and  their  Allies  would 
look  upon  suggestions  of  compromise,  however  friendly,  and 
from  whatever  quarter  they  came,  very  much  as  President 
Lincoln  and  Mr.  Seward  looked  upon  them  in  the  Civil  War. 
The  American  records  of  that  period  afford  the  classic  instance 
of  how  a  great  democracy  fighting  for  its  life,  and  for  what  it 
prizes  more  than  life,  meets  even  the  hint  of  interference  from 
outside.  Neutrals  cannot  be  too  tender  of  the  susceptibilities 
of  belligerents  when  they  undertake  to  criticize  their  political 
action.' 

As  to  the  necessity  of  being  practical— i.e.  of  not 
abandoning  such  aims  as  are  unrealizable  under 
given  conditions— the  Poles,  even  if  their  realism 
were  not  subordinated  to  some  higher  ideals 
which  make  life  worth  living,  ought  not  to  be 
unnecessarily  moderate  in  their  judgment  of  what 
is  realizable  and  what  is  not.     History  shows  that 

^  Tke  Times,  May  27,  1916,  "The  Hollowness  of  Peace 
Talk." 


348  INTELLECTUAL    POLAND 

man's  capacity  to  forecast  the  future  is  still  very 
limited  and  there  is  no  power  so  strong  as  the 
will.  What  is  sometimes  called  by  the  high- 
sounding  name  "  political  realism  "  is  often  nothing 
more  than  lack  of  foresight,  which  may  be  fatally 
disastrous  to  those  who  carry  it  too  far. 

Of  the  fact  that  neither  individuals  nor  countries 
can  foresee  the  future  this  war  has  given  ample 
evidence.  It  has  given  many  evidences  to  the  Poles 
also. 

"  When  a  man  feels  himself  bereft  of  all  pro- 
tection, when  he  can  reckon  no  longer  on  either 
friendship,  or  justice,  or  pity,  there  is  nevertheless 
one  feeling  that  remain^s— that  is  hope.  Hope  alone 
is  adequate  to  defend  him  against  despair.  Hope 
alone  possesses  the  power  of  administering  the  last 
unction  to  his  dying  lips.  It  is  hope,  too,  this  good, 
sympathetic,  and  faithful  source  of  consolation, 
which  irradiates  the  image— far  off,  and  yet  so 
near— of  our  dear  University— a  hope  which  by  its 
very  presence  brings  comfort  to  our  soul." 

These  were  the  words  with  which  M.  Alexander 
Swietochowski  concluded  his  oration  in  1903,  when 
he  met  the  former  students  of  the  Polish  University 
of  Warsaw  ('*  Szkola  Glowna"),  which  had  been 
closed  in  1867. 

What  do  such  words  as  these  prove  if  not  that 
in  1903  the  chances  of  the  restoration  of  the  Polish 
University  of  Warsaw  were  so  remote  that  it  was 
necessary  for  Swietochowski  to  impress  on  his 
colleagues  their  bounden  duty  to  keep  on  hoping? 


INTELLECTUAL    POLAND  349 

For,  as  Casanova  once  emphasized,  despair  is  a  form 
of  suicide,  and  then,  as  Crebillon  added,  there  is 
nothing  left  but  shame. 

Truly,  the  outlook  was  most  unpromising ! 

What  was  an  impossibility  even  so  recently  as 
1903  has  become  to-day  a  solid  reality :  the  Polish 
University  at  Warsaw  was  resuscitated  in  November: 
of  last  year. 

Such  an  example,  precarious  as  it  may  appear, 
so  long  as  the  Poles  have  no  effective  power  to 
administer  their  own  affairs,  so  long  as  a  Polish 
State  is  not  a  living  reality,  must  strengthen  the 
Poles  in  the  belief  that  they  must  never  give  up 
the  idea  of  national  independence.  Tiber e  is  every 
reason  to  think  that  the  Poles  will  never  give  up 
this  ideal,  and  that  it  may  on,Q  day  be  realized, 
because,  as  Lord  Weardale  said :  ''  The  Polish  race 
has  many  gifts,  but  perhaps  its  enduring  faith  is 
its  most  remarkable  characteristic."  ^ 

The  faithfulness  of  the  Poles  to  the  idea  of  inde- 
pendence will  prevent  them  from  one  day  deserving 
to  have  said  of  them  what  Montesquieu  said  about 
Rome  :— 

When  Sylla  wished  to  give  back  Rome  her  freedom  she 
could  not  take  it — nothing  but  the  shadow  of  her  virtue 
remained ;  .  .  .  she  fell  deeper  and  deeper  into  slavery  ^ ; 


*  "  Poland's  Struggle  for  Independence,"  by  Kucharski. 
With  an  Introduction  by  Lord  Weardale. 

2  **  Esprit  des  Lois,"  iii.  3  :  "  Quand  Sylla  voulut  rendre  a 
Rome  sa  liberte  elle  ne  put  plus  la  recevoir,  elle  n'avait  plus 
qu'un  faible  reste  de  vertu  ;  .  .  .  elle  f ut  toujours  plus  esclave." 


350  INTELLECTUAL    POLAND 

or    what    Tetmajer,     a    Polish     poet,    said     about 
illustrious  Greece  :— 

The  soldier  alone  is  the  defender  of  the  honour  of  an  en- 
slaved nation.  When  Ancient  Greece  was  occupied  by  the 
Romans  she  continued  to  give  to  the  world  thinkers,  philo- 
sophers, and  artists,  but  this  in  no  way  prevented  the 
Romans  from  despising  her.  In  contempt  perished  the 
nation  which  yet  was — as  the  Romans  themselves  recognized 
— in  the  highest  rank  of  intelligence  in  the  world  of  her  time, 
which  was  able  to  impose  her  own  tongue  upon  her  conquerors 
as  an  auxiliary  language  and  a  model  to  the  learned  circles  and 
the  intellectual  classes  of  the  Roman  people. 

The  Poles  really  feel  that  if  they,  give  up  the  ideal 
of  independence  they  will  very  rapidly  cease  to  be 
a  united  although  partitioned  nation,  that  they  will 
lose  their  individuality  and  therefore  the  possibility 
of  active  participation  in  the  higher  forms  of  expres- 
sion of  the  spiritual  as  opposed  to  the  merely 
material  life,  that  they  will  abase  themselves 
morally,  and  will  deserve  the  contempt  of  all  the 
honest  and  dishonest  world.  And  in  so  thinking 
the  Poles  are  undoubtedly  right,  because,  psycho- 
logically speaking,  the  idea  of  national  dignity  plays 
the  same  part  in  the  life  of  a  nation  as  the  idea 
of  self-respect  in  the  moral  consciousness  of  the 
individual,  although  it  is  less  evident. 

If  the  object  is  to  preserve  and  develop  the 
personality  as  a  whole,  you  cannot  sacrifice  these 
sentiments  with  impunity,  without  harming  the 
individual  or  the  social  organism  in  which  they 
occupy  a  central  position. 

Modern  social   psychology,   is    ready,   we   think, 


INTELLECTUAL    POLAND  351 

to  acknowledge  this  truth,  and  it  is  to  be  expected 
that  the  Western  democracies  will  not  show  them- 
selves incapable  of  understanding  what  vital  and 
profound  meaning  there  is  in  faithfulness  to  thie 
ideal  of  national  independence  in  the  case  of  an 
enslaved,  but  not  degraded,  nation,  in  the  case  of 
a  nationality  which  desires  to  keep  itself  distinct 
and  united  in  the  midst  of  other  peoples. 

Was  it  not  a  great  English  poet  and  philosopher, 
Pope,  who  said :  *'  Let  fortune  do  her  worst  what- 
ever she  makes  us  lose,  as  long  as  she  never  makes 
us  lose  our  honesty  and  our  independence  "  ?  And 
was  it  not  a  French  humanist,  Gueroult,  who  pro- 
claimed :  **  Toutes  les  fois  que  la  France  est  infidele 
a  une  noble  cause,  elle  s'appauvrit  et  se  degrade  "  ? 

The  truth  contained  in  these  words  is  deeply 
rooted  in  the  convictions  of  Polish  patriots.  And 
when  the  German  Chancellor,  Herr  von  Bethmann- 
Hollweg,  included  the  following  sentence  in  his 
speech  in  the  Reichstag  on  the  19th  of  August  last, 
after  the  fall  of  Warsaw  :— 

For  centuries  geographical  and  political  fate  have  forced  the 
Germans  and  Poles  to  fight  against  each  other.  The  recollec- 
tion of  these  old  differences  does  not  diminish  respect  for  the 
passion  of  patriotism  and  tenacity  with  which  the  Polish 
people  defends  its  old  Western  civilization  and  its  love  of 
independence  in  the  severe  sufferings  from  Russoism,  a  love 
which  is  maintained  also  through  the  misfortune  of  this  war — 

he  knew  perfectly  well  that  from  a  Polish  point  of 
view  he  was  paying  the  Poles  the  greatest  tribute 
they  could  crave  for  themselves.      He  knew,  too, 


352  INTELLECTUAL    POLAND 

that  he  would  strike  the  most  tender  chord  in  the 
Polish  soul. 

Whatever  comment  may  be  made  on  the  sincerity 
of  the  Chancellor's  words,  it  must,  at  least,  be 
admitted  that  in  this  case,  as  in  many  other 
circumstances,  Germany  has  proved  to  be  "  well 
informed  "  about  Polish  aims  and  Polish  political 
aspirations. 

In  this  war  the  Poles  have  no  other  means  of 
asserting  their  imprescriptable  right  to  the  inde- 
pendence they  claim,  except  through  the  pen  and  the 
spoken  word,  and  even  that  much  is  often  denied 
them. 

If  this  right  is  not  given  to  them  in  the  next 
Peace  Congress,  from  which  the  optimists  hope  will 
ensue  a  regenerated  Europe,  there  will  be  only  one 
thing  left  for  them  to  do  :  to  struggle  on  until  the 
final  victory,  for,  as  Staszyc,  a  great  Polish  patriot, 
said  after  the  partitions :  *'  A  great  nation  may 
fall,  only  a  vile  nation  can  perish." 


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